Commercial banking

Corporations are navigating shifting geopolitics, and M&A bankers are advising them as they consider selling off faraway units and focusing more on assets closer to home or in friendlier countries.

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the fragility of complex global supply chains. Bankers say they are hearing from more U.S. clients who want to change that by moving manufacturing and supplier operations closer to home.

There are numerous groups that would love for financial institutions to embrace their causes. But executives need to think through the potential consequences of becoming politically active.

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.