Latest banking news

July 29, 2022 3:45 PM

Bank of America and Citigroup are among the founding members of an Economic Opportunity Coalition the White House is putting together. Our other bonus coverage includes an expansion of Mastercard's roster of buy now/pay later partners, M&A deals in Georgia and Texas and a pair of professional sports "official bank" deals in the New York area for State Street.

Scroll through to see what you might have missed this week in banking, payments, credit unions and more.

BofA, Citi among banks supporting White House economic initiative

Thumbnail for Video: The White House Engaged in 'Unnecessary Acts of Deception'

The White House is forming an Economic Opportunity Coalition, which was made public by Vice President Kamala Harris during an event in New York City on July 28. The EOC will invest tens of billions of dollars in underserved communities, including more than $3 billion of investments into community development financial institutions and minority depository institutions. Some Coalition members will also provide pro bono consulting and technology to these institutions. Another member is investing in a new research center and incubator to encourage innovative financial services products for underserved consumers. Founding members of the Coalition include Bank of America, Citigroup, Discover, KeyBank, PayPal, the lending marketplace Upstart and more. — Miriam Cross

Mastercard expands lineup of BNPL partners

Gabby Jones/Bloomberg

Mastercard has added 10 domestic and foreign financial institutions to the list of organizations supporting its Mastercard Installments buy now/pay later service. The BNPL service launched last year with a handful of U.S. banks, empowering their small-business customers to offer consumers point-of-sale installment loans online or in stores. Mastercard Installments’ new U.S. participants include Cross River, Evolve Bank & Trust, Live Oak Bank, Jifiti, WebBank and MOCA Financial. The U.K.-based banks HSBC and NatWest also joined the program along with Saudi National Bank. — Kate Fitzgerald

HomeTrust in North Carolina expanding by acquisition in Georgia

Sean Pavone/SeanPavonePhoto - stock.adobe.com

HomeTrust Bancshares in Asheville, North Carolina, agreed to acquire Quantum Capital in Suwanee, Georgia, for $67.6 million in cash and stock. The acquisition would bolster HomeTrust’s small-business lending capabilities — Quantum’s bank generated the third-highest volume of Small Business Administration 7(a) loans in Georgia last year. “Quantum’s strong team of experienced business bankers specializing in the origination of SBA loans aligns perfectly with our strategic initiatives to expand our fee-based businesses and grow our commercial deposit base,” Hunter Westbrook, HomeTrust’s president and chief operating officer, said in a press release Monday. Quantum's founder and chairman, Narasimhulu Neelagaru, would join the board of HomeTrust. Bryan Cohen, Quantum’s president, would be the Georgia market president of HomeTrust’s bank unit. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2023. — Jim Dobbs

Great Plains Bancshares in Oklahoma to buy Texas bank

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Great Plains Bancshares in Elk City, Oklahoma, agreed to acquire Providence Bancshares in Southlake, Texas, to raise its profile in Dallas. “We are very excited about this opportunity to further expand our banking organization in this major metropolitan area of Texas,” Mark Russell, CEO of the $1.1 billion-asset Great Plains, said in a press release Tuesday. “This is a strategic acquisition for our company to strengthen our footprint and name recognition in this high-growth area.” Providence has about $200 million of assets, $136 million of loans and $164 million of deposits. The price of the deal, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter, was not disclosed. — Jim Dobbs

State Street names global head of marketing

Scott Eisen/Bloomberg

State Street has a new global chief marketing officer: Brenda Tsai, the onetime chief marketing officer at BNY Mellon. Tsai, who most recently managed marketing and communications at DXC Technology in Virginia, will be in charge of the Boston-based company’s global brand and marketing strategy and execution, focusing on content, digital marketing, events, product campaigns and media relations. She will report to Julia McCarthy, executive vice president and global head of client experience for State Street. — Allissa Kline

Citizens to become ‘official bank’ of Giants, Devils

Bloomberg News

Six months after expanding into the New York City metro market via acquisition, Citizens Financial Group has signed a deal to become the official bank of the NFL's New York Giants. The Providence, Rhode Island, company will also be the presenting partner and official bank of the National Hockey League’s New Jersey Devils and the Devils’ home arena, Prudential Center, in Newark, New Jersey. In a press release this week, Citizens said its signage will be visible at Giants training camp, which is taking place at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey. In addition, the name of the Prudential Center tower on the corner of Mulberry Street and Edison Place in Newark will switch to Citizens Tower, the company said. In February, Citizens acquired more than 60 former HSBC branches in the tri-state region, and in April it acquired New Jersey-based Investors Bank. When the Investor Bank branches are rebranded, $226.7 billion-asset Citizens will operate more than 200 offices throughout the region.— Allissa Kline

Minnesota de novo credit union chooses new name

Debra Hurston, Association for Black Economic Power.

Minnesota's first new credit union in nearly 10 years will be called Arise Community Credit Union, according to Debra Hurston, executive director of the Association for Black Economic Power, who announced the rebranding in a virtual town hall meeting Thursday evening. The de novo, which plans to have an online "soft launch" in the first quarter of 2023, had previously been called Village Financial Credit Union. It expects to announce the hiring of its chief executive in August. — Daniel Wolfe

Cornerstone Community Financial names chief financial and experience officers

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Jennifer Dickey, left, and Mark Evenson.

Cornerstone Community Financial in Auburn Hills, Michigan, promoted one executive to chief financial officer and another to the newly created role of chief experience officer. Mark Evenson, who had been vice president of retail services at the $365 million-asset credit union, will succeed Beth Wielgat as chief financial officer. Jennifer Dickey, formerly vice president of talent and culture, will be the inaugural chief experience officer. “Mark and Jennifer joined the CCF team in 2020. … And throughout these many challenging days, both have proven themselves to be competent, capable and caring leaders,” Heidi Kassab, Cornerstone's chief executive, said in a press release on Wednesday. — Frank Gargano

TAPCO Credit Union hires chief of people and inclusion

Sarah Gray.

Matt McDaniel Matty Photography

TAPCO Credit Union in Fircrest, Washington, named Sarah Gray chief people and inclusion officer. Gray joined TAPCO in July from the Seattle nonprofit Child Care Resources, where she was chief human resources officer. — Frank Gargano

Worldpay, Chargebacks911 collaborate to mitigate payment disputes

A customer holds a contactless debit card issued by HSBC near a Worldpay payment terminal.

The payments processor Worldpay and the transaction dispute firm Chargebacks911 have launched a bundle of products designed to streamline access to digital fraud prevention and dispute management. Called Dispute Deflector, it uses open technology tools and application programming interfaces to connect merchants to a set of five chargeback and dispute avoidance products. Worldpay, a subsidiary of the bank technology company FIS, says the collaboration can address the trend of retailers, card issuers and payment networks moving away for manual dispute management. — John Adams

Morgan Stanley promotes its longtime Apple analyst to global research head

Katy Huberty.

Morgan Stanley promoted longtime analyst Katy Huberty to global research director. Huberty, who has risen up the bank’s research ranks since joining in 2000, was most recently director of equity research for the Americas. She has long covered consumer hardware companies and has been “the most recognized and respected analyst” for Apple, Ted Pick, co-president of Morgan Stanley, said in a memo to staff. Huberty is succeeding Simon Bound, who has led the research department since 2014 and is retiring at the end of the year. Pick said Bound led a turnaround that helped the division once again consistently get top-three placements in client polls. — Polo Rocha