Bank M&A value triples in 2024, volume through Oct. tops 2023

Bank M&A value triples in 2024, volume through October tops 2023

November 15, 2024 2:51 PM

In this week's banking news roundup: The number of banks announcing plans to sell this year reached 108 by the end of Oct.; Truist Financial promoted Brad Bender to chief risk officer; Old Point Financial made Cathy W. Liles its chief financial officer; and more.

Bank M&A value triples in 2024, with four $1 billion-plus deals

Banks announcing plans to sell this year reached 108 by October's end, surpassing the total for all of last year. Transactions, on average, are substantially larger in 2024 as well.

There were 108 deals worth an aggregate deal value of $13.1 billion through Oct. 31. Volume this year surpassed the 98 transactions inked in 2023 and value more than tripled the $4.15 billion total for last year, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data updated this week.

The largest deal announced in October was Atlantic Union Bankshares' planned acquisition of Olney, Maryland-based Sandy Spring Bancorp. The Richmond, Virginia-based Atlantic agreed to pay Sandy Spring $1.6 billion in stock. It marked the third largest bank acquisition announced this year by value and the fourth of 2024 that topped the $1 billion threshold.

M&A advisors expect momentum to endure following Federal Reserve interest rates cuts — by 50 basis points in September and by 25 basis points this month — as falling rates are expected to lower borrowing costs and minimize credit quality issues. For acquirers, this simplifies the process of evaluating sellers' health.

Modeling "a thesis around deals will become less volatile for dealmakers, and executing transactions is going to be much more palatable," said Mitch Berlin, EY's Americas vice chair for strategy and transactions. —Jim Dobbs

Truist looks within for new chief risk officer

Truist Financial has promoted Brad Bender to the role of chief risk officer, effective immediately, following the pending retirement of Clarke Starnes III, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank said in a press release.

Bender, who started his banking career 20 years ago at BB&T, was most recently Truist's interim chief information officer, filling in after the departure of Scott Case earlier this year.

As chief risk officer, Bender will lead the Charlotte, North Carolina, company's risk management unit, regulatory relations, ethics and financial crimes functions, according to the press release. Bender will report directly to Truist Chairman and CEO Bill Rogers and remain on the company's executive management team.

Starnes, meanwhile, is shifting into a senior advisor role until April 30, 2025, the company disclosed in a regulatory filing.

Starnes, who will also step down as vice chair of Truist, will continue to receive his current base salary and will remain eligible for an annual cash-incentive compensation award for this year, the filing said. Starnes joined BB&T in 1982 and became chief risk officer in late 2019 when BB&T and SunTrust Banks merged to form Truist. —Allissa Kline

Old Point names Cathy Liles as CFO

Old Point Financial has made Cathy W. Liles its chief financial officer, a position she held on an interim basis since July.

She succeeds Paul Pickett, who was hired in October 2023. Pickett is now CFO for DLP Bank, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Liles is CFO for the holding company as well as finance chief of Old Point National Bank.

She joined the $1.5 billion-asset Old Point in May as senior vice president and chief accounting officer after holding a similar role at American National Bankshares. Liles is a certified public accountant. —Mary de Wet

OCC names deputy comptrollers for large banks

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency promoted Robert Barnes and Kevin Greenfield to deputy comptrollers for large bank supervision.

Barnes served as a national bank examiner for more than 30 years and most recently was examiner-in-charge of Bank of America, according to a news release from the OCC.

Greenfield also has decades of experience as a national bank examiner, serving more than 25 years, the OCC said. He was named acting deputy comptroller for large bank supervision in August. Prior to that, Greenfield spent five years as director for bank information technology policy and then five years as deputy comptroller for operational risk policy.

The large bank supervision unit is led by Senior Deputy Comptroller Greg Coleman. According to the OCC's website, the division has examiners on location at 26 major banks. —Mary de Wet

Alliance Credit Union of Florida goes into conservatorship

The Florida Office of Financial Regulation has appointed the National Credit Union Administration as the conservator of Alliance Credit Union of Florida.

The credit union, which has $59.1 million in assets, has members in the Gainesville region, including Alachua, Bradford, Gilchrist and Levi counties. The credit union lost $184,000 in 2023, and more than $4 million in the first three quarters of 2024, according to the NCUA. Alliance's membership fell more than 20% during 2024 and loan loss provisions increased from just over $400,000 at the end of the third quarter 2023 to more than $2.1 million in third quarter 2024. Alliance did not return a request for comment.

The credit union's online banking site and branches in Gainesville will remain open under NCUA supervision, while the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund will back accounts up to $250,000.
—John Adams

Deutsche Bank rehires Randy Russell to co-head media, telecom banking

Deutsche Bank rehired Randy Russell as co-head of media and telecommunications investment banking alongside Jacqueline Gordon.

Russell will be based in New York, according to a memo to staff sent by global head of TMT Gavin Deane and Bruce Evans, the bank's Americas head of origination and advisory.

Russell worked at the German bank for about 16 years until his departure in 2018 and had stints at Bank of America, MobileX and Pendrell Financial Services in the years since then, according to his LinkedIn profile.

A Deutsche Bank spokesman confirmed the memo's contents and declined to comment further. —Gillian Tan, Bloomberg News

Barclays pushes to hire more in India, Japan, says Asia Pac head

Barclays sees the Asia Pacific as a key area for further investment and hiring, according to the British bank's regional head. "We have been hiring in both Japan and India, in our markets business and our investment banking business," Jaideep Khanna told Haslinda Amin in a Bloomberg TV interview in Singapore on Thursday. Asia Pacific "is a destination for further investment."

Chief Executive Officer C.S. Venkatakrishnan unveiled a multiyear plan to boost returns at Barclays in February by increasing investment into its U.K. operations while focusing on more profitable businesses and clients in its investment bank.

The company also vowed to cut about £2 billion in costs in the coming years — a plan that executives said they're on track to complete. —Haslinda Amin and Chanyaporn Chanjaroen, Bloomberg News

JPMorgan hires Goldman’s Kimakura to head yen rates trading

JPMorgan Chase hired Hiroki Kimakura from Goldman Sachs to head yen rates trading in Tokyo, as activity picks up in Japan's $7.3 trillion sovereign debt market. Kimakura recently joined JPMorgan's Tokyo securities subsidiary as managing director and head of Japan fixed-income trading, overseeing transactions in Japanese government bonds and yen interest-rate derivatives, according to a company representative. His predecessor, Yoichi Takemura, left the U.S.'s largest bank several months ago to join hedge fund firm Garda Capital Partners.

Trading in Japanese sovereign bonds has become a more profitable business in recent quarters, fueling competition among financial firms to hire traders from rivals as Bank of Japan policy changes create volatility. JPMorgan Securities Japan also recruited Hiroki Kawahara earlier this year from hedge fund Alphadyne Asset Management for yen rate swaps trading.

"In a very competitive market, these strategic hires demonstrate our firm's strong commitment to Japan and our continuous efforts to better serving our clients," JPMorgan said in an emailed statement. —Takashi Nakamichi, Bloomberg News