BNY expands employee benefits, boosts minimum wage to $25 per hour

December 20, 2024 3:00 PM

In this week's banking news roundup: BNY announced expanded employee benefits and a boost in its minimum wage for all U.S.-based employees; Synovus has added former FIS executive Greg Montana to its executive board; National Bank Holdings sold off a fifth of its securities portfolio.

BNY announces expanded minimum wage, benefits and employee rewards

This week, BNY announced enhancements of employee benefits and compensation programs for 2025.

Effective March 1, BNY's minimum hourly salary rate for employees based in the U.S. will increase from $22.50 to $25 per hour. In addition, the firm's short-term disability plan has been redesigned to provide 100% of base pay for all employees, up to 26 weeks, from date of hire instead of based on length of service.

Building upon the success of its BK Shares program, BNY will offer 10 shares of its stock to all eligible new employees. Launched in December 2022, the BK Shares equity grant made all eligible employees stockholders, allowing them to share and participate in the company's commercial success.

"We work hard to ensure BNY offers a holistic global total reward program for our employees," Chief People Officer Shannon Hobbs said. —Editorial Staff

Synovus adds former FIS executive to board

Synovus Financial is increasing the size of its board by adding Greg Montana, a former chief risk officer at Fidelity National Information Services, to the group.

Montana will become the board's 12th director on Jan. 1. He will join Synovus' risk and audit committees, the Columbus, Georgia-based company said in a press release. Each of those committees will now have six members.

The bank, which is in the early days of hiring dozens of relationship managers, did not say if the 12-person board structure is permanent, and it has not announced any impending director retirements.

Montana's "unparalleled expertise in risk, security and compliance strengthens our position as a trusted financial institution," Synovus Chairman and CEO Kevin Blair said in the release.

Montana, who retired from FIS in 2023, previously served on the board of the Internet Security Alliance for six years, according to his LinkedIn profile. —Allissa Kline

National Bank Holdings in Denver unloads a fifth of securities portfolio

National Bank Holdings sold about 20% of its available-for-sale securities portfolio.

The $10 billion-asset, Denver-based company said in a press release that it sold $130 million of low-yielding investment securities. The transaction resulted in an after-tax loss of about $5 million that the company expects to record in the current quarter.

National said proceeds from the sale would be redeployed over time into higher-yielding securities, supporting earnings in coming quarters.

"Through our solid capital position, we are able to effectively manage our balance sheet while enhancing future earnings growth for our shareholders," Chairman and CEO Tim Laney said in the release. —Jim Dobbs

RBB sets out succession plan, promotes chief banking officer

RBB Bancorp has promoted President and Chief Banking Officer Johnny Lee to the role of CEO of the bank, effective Jan. 1.

On May 22, Lee is expected to succeed David Morris as CEO of the company. Morris is retiring after 15 years with RBB. He will remain on the boards of the company and the $4 billion-asset Royal Business Bank, RBB said in a press release.

Lee, 62, joined RBB in 2023. Prior to that, he worked at East West Bank, serving in various roles including head of international and commercial banking, RBB said.

Chief Risk Officer I-Ming (Vincent) Liu will become the bank's chief of staff on Jan. 1 and report to Lee. Deputy Chief Risk Officer Mina Rizkalla will be promoted to succeed Liu, RBB said.

RBB is based in Los Angeles and provides consumer and business banking services to Asian communities in California; Chicago; Edison, New Jersey; Las Vegas; New York City and Oahu, Hawaii. —Mary de Wet

Capital One receives Delaware's approval for Discover deal

Capital One on Wednesday received approval from the Delaware state bank commissioner to complete its planned acquisition of Discover Financial Services and its banking subsidiary, Discover Bank, marking a "key step" in pushing the acquisition through the finish line, the bank said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Discover Bank is a Delaware-chartered bank.

The bank also said in a separate SEC filing on Thursday that it would hold a shareholder meeting on Feb. 18 for the company's common shareholders to vote on the merger. The merger will still need approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

Capital One still expects the acquisition to close in early 2025, it said in the filing. —Joey Pizzolato

Visa closes AI security tech acquisition

Visa on Thursday closed its purchase of Featurespace, which sells artificial intelligence-powered security for real-time payments. The card network will add Featurespace's technology to Visa's range of risk-scoring and fraud-mitigation tools.

Cambridge University's engineering department developed Featurespace in 2008, and the firm's clients include HSBC, NatWest, Akbank, Danske Bank, Edenred, TSYS and Worldpay.

Visa has made value-added services such as security and consulting a priority as it looks for revenue sources beyond credit card payment processing. It recently hired Australian banking veteran Antony Cahill to lead its global value-added division. —John Adams

Scotiabank to add Mastercard exec to payments team

Scotiabank is adding more talent to its payments team as the Canadian bank looks to bolster its transaction banking business line.

Scott Wallace will join Scotiabank as executive vice president, global transaction banking effective March 3, the bank said. He will report to Francisco Aristeguieta, group head of international banking. Wallace joins from Mastercard, where he was executive vice president of commercial solutions. He has also held roles at Goldman Sachs and Capital One.

The appointment comes as Scotiabank is looking to build up its payments division. In August, the bank named John Hunter the managing director of U.S. global transaction banking. Hunter previously held roles at Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase and will report to Wallace in March. —Joey Pizzolato