Commercial banking

BMO Financial is expanding its efforts to recruit "underleveraged" job candidates among families fleeing war and hunger abroad. Refugees offer businesses diverse skills and have lower turnover rates than typical North American workers.

Huntington Bancshares has hired Shawn Lough, a veteran Truist Financial banker and West Point graduate, to help guide the sales strategy and goals of its consumer and business banking operation. It also expanded the duties of Digital Director Mark Sheehan to include deposits.

More than 250 midsize and large companies that do business with BofA have signed up for its corporate employee banking and investing program, which pulls double duty as a retention tool for the companies and a customer-growth engine for the bank. The initiative is part of a wave of such offerings by regional and large banks.

The agency acknowledged that loan performance in the sector has been strong, but cited several reasons to think that might change, including rising interest rates, the effects of inflation and uncertainty about the future of work and commerce.

BayFirst Financial in Florida is using gross — not net — income to calculate how much credit smaller enterprises can be granted. Company officials say the Paycheck Protection Program used that approach with great success, but others contend the practice is risky for private-sector lenders.

Toronto-Dominion Bank is looking to bolster its stateside capital markets business with the acquisition of Cowen. The deal comes even as the Canadian banking giant awaits approval of another merger that would make it a top-six U.S. bank.

As the industry manages high turnover, more companies are expressing dissatisfaction. Among firms that switch to a new bank, the previous bank's lack of knowledge about their business is an increasingly common reason, according to a recent survey.