BNY's new branding, Virginia credit unions to merge

June 14, 2024 2:12 PM

In this week's banking news roundup: BNY, the country's oldest bank, drops "Mellon" from its branding; Apple FCU announces plans to merge with NextMark Credit Union; Moelis probes incident after a video circulated online shows one of its senior bankers appearing to punch a woman; and more.

BNY drops Mellon from new branding

Bank of New York Mellon is shortening its brand to just BNY. The country's oldest bank — Alexander Hamilton founded it in 1784 — will still carry its full name in its parent company. But the custody bank updated its logo to simply say BNY and is streamlining its division names to BNY Investments, BNY Wealth and BNY Pershing. The latter stems from when BNY bought the clearing house Pershing in 2003. "These changes complement the company's evolution as a leading global financial services company," said BNY spokesperson Natalie Sunderland. — Polo Rocha

Virginia credit unions to merge, create $5 billion institution in D.C. suburbs

A pair of Fairfax, Virginia-based credit unions agreed this week to merge and form a combined institution with $5 billion of assets. The $4.4 billion-asset Apple FCU announced plans to merge with the $532 million-asset NextMark Credit Union. It would create a company with greater reach across the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. The combined credit union would have more than 260,000 members and 25 branches, the institutions said in a joint press release Wednesday. It would do business as Apple FCU.

Apple's President and CEO Andy Grimm will continue in those roles at the merged organization. "The combination of both credit unions will provide scale and a powerful synergy that benefits the members of both institutions," Grimm said in the release. The credit unions expect to finalize their merger by the end of this year. — Jim Dobbs

Investment bank Moelis probes incident after video of employee appearing to punch woman

A Moelis employee is on leave as the bank investigates an incident after a video circulated online showing a man identified as one of the firm's senior bankers appears to punch a woman.

The video, posted on X, shows a man striking a woman, who then falls to the ground.

"We are aware that one of our employees was involved in a serious incident in Brooklyn on June 8," Moelis said in a statement on Monday. "We take this matter very seriously, and this employee is on leave as we continue to conduct our investigation."

The online post identifies the man as Jonathan Kaye, a managing director who leads the business services franchise at the New York-based investment bank.

Kaye declined to comment when reached Sunday by Bloomberg. — Todd Gillespie and Liana Baker, Bloomberg News

Gemini to pay $50 million to settle New York crypto fraud claims

Crypto exchange Gemini Trust agreed to pay $50 million to resolve claims brought by New York's attorney general, accusing the company of defrauding investors.

Attorney General Letitia James sued Gemini in October, accusing the platform of lying to more than 230,000 investors about the risks associated with its investment program, Gemini Earn.

The settlement announced on Friday will see Gemini return about $50 million of digital assets to investors who were locked out of their accounts when the program collapsed. Gemini will also be banned from operating a crypto lending program in New York, James said.

"Hundred of thousands of people, including at least 29,000 New Yorkers, had their trust broken and their money swindled by Gemini through its bogus Earn program," James said in a statement. "Today's settlement will make defrauded investors whole and should remind cryptocurrency companies that deceiving investors is illegal and will not be tolerated." — Erik Larson and Ava Benny-Morrison, Bloomberg News

Citi boosts U.S. parental leave to compete with Wall Street rivals

Citigroup is increasing the time-off allowance for new parents in the U.S. and introducing leave for staff to care for ailing family members.

Under the expanded policy, all new parents in the U.S. and Puerto Rico will receive 16 weeks of paid leave, according to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg News. Birth parents will receive an additional paid recovery time of as much as eight weeks, reaching a potential total of 24 weeks.

In addition, Citigroup will allow colleagues two weeks of annual paid leave to care for an immediate family member who's seriously ill. Previously, it offered only unpaid leave.

While the new family-leave allowances help make the firm even more competitive with U.S. rivals, they're less than policies in other parts of the world. In the U.K., Citigroup employees are entitled to 26 weeks' leave at base pay and more time at a lower-paid or unpaid status. — Todd Gillespie, Bloomberg News