Former Citigroup exec Titi Cole joins the bank's board

February 7, 2025 2:50 PM

In this week's banking news roundup: Titi Cole, a former executive at Citigroup, is now on the company's board of directors; Citizens Financial Group has formed a trust subsidiary as part of its wealth management and private bank expansion efforts; shareholders of Atlantic Union Bankshares and Sandy Spring Bancorp approved the two companies' planned merger; and more.

Ex-Citi executive Titi Cole joins megabank’s board

Titi Cole, a former executive at Citigroup who retired last year, is now on the company's board of directors. Cole, who most recently was head of legacy franchises at the global bank, was elected ahead of the anticipated departure of Barbara Desoer, Citi said in a press release. Desoer, herself a former Citi executive, is not eligible for reelection this year due to the company's age restrictions for directors.

Cole, one of American Banker's Most Powerful Women in Banking in 2022 and 2023, will serve on three committees — risk management, technology and transformation oversight. Because of her previous employment at Citi, she is not considered an independent director.

Cole joined Citi in 2020. She has also worked at Wells Fargo, Bank of America, BMO and McKinsey. In 2022, Citi CEO Jane Fraser put her in charge of managing the divestitures and wind-downs of Citi's consumer banking franchises in 14 countries. —Allissa Kline

Citizens explores private credit partnership roundup slide

Michael Nagle/Bloomberg

Citizens Financial forms trust business, hires Cuva as director

Citizens Financial Group launched a trust subsidiary as part of its wealth management and private bank expansion efforts, the company said in a press release.

Citizens Trust Company of Delaware will offer trust and fiduciary services "under the benefits of Delaware's unique trust laws, including income and estate tax advantages, enhanced privacy and asset preservation," the release said. The Newark, Delaware-based office will be led by Jennifer Cuva, regional trust director, and focus on providing trust services to ultra high net worth individuals and families, the release said.

Cuva joined Citizens in January, according to her LinkedIn profile. She most recently was director of personal trust administration at Charles Schwab, where she oversaw trust administration for the company's two state-chartered trust companies, Citizens said.

Dominique DuMochel, currently a senior wealth advisor for Citizens Private Wealth, will be the bank's business development director in Delaware, the release said. —Allissa Kline

Shareholders sign off on Atlantic Union-Sandy Spring tie-up

Shareholders of Glen Allen, Virginia-based Atlantic Union Bankshares and Olney, Maryland-based Sandy Spring Bancorp approved the two companies' planned merger at their respective special meetings on Feb. 5. The banks had previously secured regulatory approvals and set April 1 as the target date to close the deal.

The $1.6 billion deal, announced last October, was the third-largest U.S. bank merger announced in 2024. Atlantic Union stands to gain about $14 billion of assets. The combined company would have nearly $40 billion of assets, deposits of $32 billion and loans of $30 billion.

Atlantic Union's mid-Atlantic footprint would add 53 branches and double its wealth business, increasing assets under management by more than $6.5 billion. —Jim Dobbs

U.S. Bancorp’s new payments leader starts as Kotwal nears retirement

Courtney Kelso, formerly of American Express, joined U.S. Bancorp this week in a new role leading consumer and small-business payments, the Minneapolis-based company said. At the same time, Shailesh Kotwal, who had been running all of the payments business, shifted into an advisory role, as he nears retirement in June, a regulatory filing shows.

Kelso, who spent 17 years at American Express, is now part of U.S. Bancorp's management committee and will report to company president and soon-to-be CEO Gunjan Kedia. Kelso's responsibilities include personal and small-business debit and credit cards as well as co-branded cards.

U.S. Bancorp recently split its payments business in half — consumer and small-business payments, and merchant and institutional payments — and assigned Mark Runkel, who had been the bank's chief transformation officer, to run the latter segment. Payments is one of U.S. Bancorp's three core businesses. —Allissa Kline

Carolyn Weinberg joins BNY as chief solutions innovation officer

The Bank of New York Mellon recently announced the appointment of Carolyn Weinberg as chief solutions innovation officer and a member of the BNY executive committee.

"I am delighted to welcome Carolyn to BNY," said Chief Executive Officer Robin Vince. "Fostering BNY's culture of innovation and curiosity is essential, and Carolyn's breadth of experience in product innovation, development and commercialization will enhance our ability to quickly grasp and cater to the biggest trends in capital markets."

Ms. Weinberg joins BNY from BlackRock, where she most recently served as chief product innovation officer and led product innovation, development and commercialization globally for the firm. Earlier in her career, she led markets businesses at Citibank and Deutsche Bank, where she developed client solutions across risk management, structured financing and fixed income derivatives.

BNY oversees $52.1 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration and $2.0 trillion in assets under management. —Editorial Staff

Wells Fargo hires ICG’s Jones as managing director

Wells Fargo has hired Alan Jones as a managing director in investment banking, according to a person familiar with the matter. Jones was most recently at alternative asset manager Intermediate Capital Group, where he was a senior managing director responsible for its direct private investment business in North America. Prior to that, he spent more than two decades at Morgan Stanley, leading global private equity investing, corporate finance and leveraged finance.

A spokesperson for Wells Fargo confirmed the hire and declined to comment further.

Jones is the firm's latest hire as it ramps up in investment banking to better compete with rivals in what's expected to be a busy year for mergers and acquisitions. Other recent hires have included Ricardo McKenzie from Royal Bank of Canada and Eric Anderson and Justin Aylward from JPMorgan Chase.

Jones is based in New York and reports to Scott Warrender, head of investment banking. —Maggie Eastland, Bloomberg News

Firstmark Credit Union hires Wendy Cleveland as new CEO

Wendy Cleveland will be Firstmark Credit Union's new president and CEO, the Texas-based credit union announced on Thursday.

Cleveland's official start date is March 10, 2025. She'll be taking over from Gregg Thorne, who has been Firstmark's interim CEO since Nathanael Tarwasokono resigned in January 2024.

"I look forward to joining the community of San Antonio and leading Firstmark Credit Union into an exciting new chapter," Cleveland said in a statement. "Together, we will achieve growth with a member-first vision and best-in-class service and technology."

Cleveland brings almost a quarter-century of experience at credit unions, including seven years as a vice president at Sound Credit Union in Tacoma, Washington.

"Wendy's passion for our mission-focused work has been demonstrated by her years of service, advocacy, and community involvement dedicated to improving the lives of others," Donald Pinson, chairman of Firstmark's board of directors, said in a statement. "We are extremely pleased to have her join us." —Nathan Place

CB Financial in Pennsylvania cuts staff, says CFO resigns

CB Financial Services in Carmichaels, Pennsylvania, said Jamie Prah voluntarily resigned as chief financial officer on Feb. 4. The company, parent of Community Bank, also laid off seven employees, or roughly 5% of its workforce.

The $1.5 billion-asset company said in a regulatory filing it appointed Amanda Engles as interim CFO. Engles joined Community Bank in March 2023 and served as its director of accounting. The company did not provide more detail about the resignation.

The job cuts followed a comprehensive review of the company's operations. CB Financial said it also made operational changes involving property management, recruitment and other activities that would generate annual pretax cost savings of about $1.5 million. —Jim Dobbs

First Bank taps internally for new CEO

First Bancorp said Thursday that it promoted Adam Currie from president to CEO of the company's banking subsidiary.

Currie, who has served as president of the bank for more than a year, will swap titles with Michael Mayer, who had been in the top position since 2017. Mayer will stay on at the company as president until early 2026.

Richard Moore, CEO and chairman of the parent company, said in a prepared statement that "this transition is the culmination of a succession plan that has been in place for many years."

The $12 billion-asset company brought Currie on in 2015 to lead First Bank's expansion in Charlotte. He was promoted to chief banking officer a few years later, and then president in 2023.

As Mayer shifts from CEO to president, his annual base salary will dip to $650,000, down from $775,000 in 2023, per public filings. In 2023, Currie's base salary was $500,000. —Catherine Leffert

JPMorgan taps Matt Sable and Melissa Smith to lead commercial banking

Matt Sable and Melissa Smith will serve as the new co-heads of JPMorgan Chase's commercial banking unit, the nation's largest bank announced on Friday.

Together, Sable and Smith will run a department serving 70,000 clients across the United States and Canada, including startups, corporations, government agencies and nonprofits. Their new supervisors will be John Simmons and Filippo Gori, the leaders of JPMorgan's global banking division.

"Matt and Melissa are exceptional leaders who have played critical roles in CB's success," Simmons and Gori said in a statement. "We're thrilled that they'll continue to drive the business forward in this exciting next chapter."

Sable is a longtime veteran at JPMorgan, having held leadership positions at the bank since 2001. Most recently, he was head of the financial institutions group in global corporate banking.

Smith has been at JPMorgan for 27 years. Since 2018, she's been head of specialized industries in middle market banking. —Nathan Place