Comerica hires former SVB risk exec, Huntington names wealth chief

May 3, 2024 9:30 AM

Former Silicon Valley Bank exec Floyd Kessler joins Comerica as executive vice president and chief business control officer; Melissa Holding succeeds Michael Robinson as head of wealth management at Huntington; Goldman Sachs' Alexander Mayer is set to take on a senior position at JPMorgan Chase; and more in this week's banking news roundup.

Comerica hires former SVB exec Floyd Kessler to lead risk

Comerica has hired Floyd Kessler as executive vice president and chief business control officer. The former head of risk processes at Silicon Valley Bank and part of the transition to SVB's acquirer First Citizens Bank will lead the Dallas bank's business risk and controls office and be responsible for first-line-of-defense risk management programs.

In a press release announcing the hiring, Comerica said, "Kessler joins Comerica with 18 years of risk management experience in the financial services industry, 16 of which were with USAA." The $79.4 billion-asset bank did not mention either SVB or First Citizens in the release.

"His brief time at Silicon Valley Bank had a narrower focus," said Nicole Idzi Hogan, Comerica's national corporate communications director.

Kessler served 16 years at USAA, most recently as head of nonfinancial risk processes, where he focused on the development of foundational risk management strategies during periods of high growth. He was instrumental in establishing critical risk functions and the "delivery of regulatory initiatives," the release said.

Most recently, Kessler worked as a program lead at MBO Partners, a consultant on workforce trends, according to his LinkedIn profile. — Kate Berry

Huntington National Bank names new wealth management director

Huntington National Bank has named Melissa Holding its new director of wealth management and an executive vice president. Holding succeeds Michael Robinson, who retired on May 1 after a 40-year career in banking including a dozen years at the $194 billion-asset Huntington in Columbus, Ohio.

Holding joined Huntington in January as its mass affluent client segment director. She previously spent four years as an executive vice president and head of premier banking at Truist Financial. Before that, Holding worked for nearly 22 years at BB&T (a predecessor company of Truist), where she served as senior vice president and wealth group director.

At Huntington, Holding will have a wide purview overseeing private banking, legacy planning, fiduciary administration and trust services, institutional custody services and full-service retail brokerage investments. She reports to Brant Standridge, president of consumer and regional banking at Huntington.

"Melissa brings deep expertise and a strong record of performance to this key role," Standridge said in a press release. — Kate Berry

Goldman’s Germany investment banking head Mayer to join JPMorgan Chase

JPMorgan Chase is hiring Alexander Mayer, head of Germany and Austria investment banking at Goldman Sachs Group, according to people familiar with the matter.

Mayer is set to join JPMorgan in a senior capacity in the bank's Germany, Austria and Switzerland business, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information.

Mayer, known for his work on deals involving large German industrial companies, is leaving Goldman after nearly 25 years, according to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg News. The banker joined the firm in 2000 as an analyst, before becoming a managing director in 2009 and making partner in 2016.

Representatives for Goldman and JPMorgan declined to comment. — Eyk Henning and Dinesh Nair, Bloomberg News

Wells Fargo founder’s college in New York’s Finger Lakes to shut down

Wells College, located in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York, will close at the end of the spring semester, joining a spate of colleges in the state to do so.

The college was established in 1868 by financier Henry Wells, who also founded the Wells Fargo and American Express companies.

The school, which operated as a women's institution until 2004, had just over 335 full-time students in 2021, down about 40% from a peak of 568 in 2008, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics. It has entered into teach-out agreements with other institutions including Manhattanville University, Excelsior University and Hobart and William Smith Colleges for current students to transfer.

Wells founded what's now known as the American banking behemoth Wells Fargo with William G. Fargo in 1852. He established the college "to promote a higher standard of moral and intellectual culture that has yet been obtained by the ordinary village and town institutions," according to the college's website. —Amanda Albright and Nic Querolo, Bloomberg News

JPMorgan Chase expands sales executive roles under new management

JPMorgan Chase expanded roles for a slew of executives as Claudia Jury and Scott Hamilton named their sales leadership team.

Matthieu Wiltz will be head of credit, securitized products group and public finance sales; Adam Englander will be head of cash equities, prime financial services, capital advisory and data and analytics sales; and Brad Tully will lead corporate and private side sales, according to an internal memo Tuesday.

The moves mark the first major changes under Jury and Hamilton, who were named global co-heads of sales and research last month. Their promotions were among the first under commercial and investment bank co-heads Jenn Piepszak and Troy Rohrbaugh.

Others on the global sales leadership team include: Ben Kinney, Gergana Thiel, Ludovic Peiron, Keith Slattery, Ben Keeping, and Eddie Wen. Brian Collins becomes global chair of sales, according to the bank. — Hannah Levitt, Bloomberg News

Twin Cities credit unions announce plan to merge

A pair of credit unions based in the suburbs of Minneapolis said they would merge to create an institution with $1.1 billion of assets and nearly 70,000 members. Maple Grove-based TopLine Financial CU and Coon Rapids-based Anoka Hennepin CU said in a press release on Thursday that they expect to finalize the transaction this summer. They received preliminary approval from the Minnesota Department of Commerce and the National Credit Union Administration, but Anoka Hennepin CU members still must vote on the deal in late June. TopLine Financial has more than $830 million of assets, five branches and 51,000 members. Anoka Hennepin has assets of more than $280 million, 18,500 members and five branches. — Jim Dobbs