KeyBank nails CRA exam, Georgia Banking Association's CEO to retire

April 12, 2024 2:43 PM

KeyBank receives "outstanding" rating from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on its most recent Community Reinvestment Act exam; Georgia Bankers Association's board elects a new incoming president and CEO; BNY Mellon hires a former GEICO executive; and more in this week's banking news roundup.

KeyBank receives “outstanding” rating on latest CRA exam

KeyBank has received an "outstanding" rating from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on its most recent Community Reinvestment Act exam, the Cleveland-based bank announced in a press release. The exam covered KeyBank's lending, investing, philanthropy and volunteerism efforts from Jan. 1, 2019, through Dec. 31, 2021. The rating comes one year after the National Community Reinvestment Coalition and other community groups asked the OCC and the Federal Reserve to downgrade Key's rating and investigate its mortgage lending practices for alleged redlining. Earlier this month, the NCRC announced an "agreement" with Key in which the bank has pledged $25 million in grants, fee waivers, down payment assistance and other resources for underserved communities. The $25 million includes $8 million that will go directly to the NCRC to support its work, the NCRC has said. The latest rating marks the 11th consecutive time that Key has received an "outstanding" designation from the OCC. — Allissa Kline

Longtime Georgia Bankers Association CEO to retire; successor named

The Georgia Bankers Association's board elected Tripp Cofield as the association's incoming president and CEO. He will succeed longtime current leader, Joe Brannen, who plans to retire on July 15.

Brannen is in his 44th year with the association. During his tenure, he also served as a member and chair of the boards of the Georgia Bar Foundation, the Georgia Society of Association Executives, the Graduate School of Banking at Louisiana State University and the American Bankers Association Alliance of State Associations.

Cofield joined the association in January 2023. He has been president and CEO of its Insurance Trust, Paragon Benefits and GBA Retirement Services units. Previously, he served as a legislative fellow for the U.S. House of Representatives before joining the staff of U.S. Rep. Rob Woodall (R-GA) as legislative counsel and House Budget Committee associate. — Jim Dobbs

BNY Mellon hires ex-GEICO executive to oversee HR, talent

The Bank of New York Mellon has a new chief people officer in charge of talent and culture. Shannon Hobbs, who most recently had the same title at insurance giant GEICO, will start at BNY Mellon on June 3 and will join the executive committee, the New York-based company said in a press release. Hobb succeeds Alejandro Perez, BNY Mellon's chief administrative officer who has been the interim chief people officer since Jolen Anderson exited the role earlier this year. Hobbs will report to BNY Mellon President and CEO Robin Vince. In addition to GEICO, she's worked at American Century Investments as head of human resources and at JPMorgan Chase, where she held various human resources leadership roles for more than 11 years, according to her LinkedIn profile. — Allissa Kline

Empower Finance acquires two fintechs targeting the underserved

Empower, an alternative credit underwriting company, has purchased two fintechs with similar missions. On Tuesday, the San Francisco-based Empower announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Petal, a consumer credit card company based in New York that uses cash flow underwriting to help thin or no-credit users build credit. It also noted the completed acquisition of Cashalo, a consumer credit and lending company headquartered in the Philippines that targets unbanked Filipinos. "We believe that modern product design and new technologies like cash flow underwriting can be used to radically improve credit access around the world," says Jason Rosen, Petal's co-founder, in a press release. "This merger brings together two of the leading innovators in this arena." — Miriam Cross

Ex-PayPal CEO joins cross-border venture fund

Dan Schulman, who was president and CEO of PayPal for nine years until his departure late last year, has joined Valor Capital Group as managing partner, Finextra reports. Valor, founded in 2011 in New York City, invests in fintechs powering cross-border payments between the U.S. and Latin America, one of the fastest-growing corridors for international remittances. The firm has about 120 companies in its portfolio and is expanding in Mexico and Brazil, among other countries, Schulman said in a blog post. At PayPal, Schulman oversaw PayPal's $890 million acquisition of cross-border startup Xoom in 2015. Prior to PayPal, Schulman spent nearly five years at American Express as group president of enterprise growth, and before that he was president of Sprint Nextel and CEO of Virgin Mobile USA. —Kate Fitzgerald

Cantor hires Tyner from Jefferies as co-head of health banking

Cantor Fitzgerald hired Dustin Tyner as co-head of health care investment banking, adding to a string of appointments at the New York-based firm this year, according to people familiar with the matter.

Tyner previously worked for 15 years at Jefferies Financial Group, most recently as joint U.S. head of biopharmaceutical investment banking, the people said, asking not to be identified because the appointment hasn't been announced yet. Prior to that he worked at UBS Group.

Representatives of Cantor and Jefferies declined to comment, while Tyner couldn't immediately be reached. Cantor last month announced the hiring of nine senior technology bankers, while in February it brought on two managing directors in health care services banking. — Michelle F. Davis, Bloomberg News

Santander hires dealmakers from Perella, William Blair, Moelis

Banco Santander hired a trio of dealmakers from Wall Street rivals as it continues to build out its U.S. investment bank.

Robert Losquadro, most recently at Perella Weinberg Partners, is set to be head of specialty finance and lending technology; Michael Gebo will join from William Blair as head of insurance; and Paul Hwang was hired as a technology banker from Moelis, according to people with knowledge of the matter. All three are joining as managing directors, some of the people said.

Losquadro is based in New York and joined Perella in 2022 after almost a decade at Houlihan Lokey; Gebo, also based in New York, spent about 15 years at William Blair; and Hwang, who is based in San Francisco, has worked at Moelis for nine years. — Gillian Tan and Carmen Arroyo, Bloomberg News

JPMorgan private bank taps Goldman’s Kui as head of China

JPMorgan Chase named Florence Kui as head of China markets for its private bank, amid broader changes to its overall leadership overseeing operations in the world's second largest economy.

Kui, who will be based in Hong Kong, is joining the firm at the end of May, according to a statement. She will succeed Grace Lin, who is retiring from the bank after eight years, and report to Harshika Patel, the regional chief executive of the Asia private bank.

She joins from Goldman Sachs, where she had a 25-year career. Kui will be responsible for leading the regional team dedicated to serving offshore wealth needs of ultra high-net-worth clients in China. She will also focus on building and deepening client relationships. — Denise Wee, Bloomberg News