Banking news roundup

March 4, 2022 3:08 PM

Enjoy complimentary access to top ideas and insights — selected by our editors.

The Russian-born CEO of a challenger bank joined the chorus of voices around the globe denouncing Russia's invasion of Ukraine, while U.S. sanctions against large Russian banks caused grief for commuters and ATM users in Moscow. Back in the U.S., one Cincinnati bank, Fifth Third Bancorp, gave its corporate responsibility chief an expanded role and another rebranded its a wealth unit. Scroll through to see what you might have missed this week in banking, payments, credit unions and more.

Revolut's Russian-born CEO condemns invasion of Ukraine

Bloomberg News

Nik Storonsky, founder and head of the London-based challenger bank Revolut, published a statement on the fintech's site calling Russia’s invasion of Ukraine "wrong and totally abhorrent." Storonsky, 37, emigrated to the U.K. when he was 20, and has a father of Ukrainian descent. The technology entrepreneur is now a U.K. citizen. Revolut has donated roughly $1.3 million to Red Cross efforts in Ukraine and will further match customer donations up to about $2 million. Vlad Yatsenko, a Revolut co-founder and its chief technology officer, who is of Ukrainian descent, said in a statement that Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, is one of the "most brazen liars in history." — John Adams

Russian payment sanctions felt on the ground and underground

Ruble Sinks as Russia Isolated by Sanctions

Bloomberg News

U.S. sanctions against large Russian banks have led to a run on ATMs and long queues in the Moscow metro. The delays at subway turnstiles stem from moves by Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay to block fare payments. The transactions are processed by VTB, a sanctioned financial institution, CBS reported. Apple Pay and Google Pay have also reportedly discontinued service in Russia and Apple has paused sales of its products in the country. Visa and Mastercard this week cut off access to banks the U.S. has sanctioned, covering more than half of the country's banking assets. — John Adams

Cincinnati bank rebrands wealth management division

To set itself apart in the increasingly crowded wealth management marketplace, First Financial Bancorp in Cincinnati has rebranded its wealth unit. The new name, Yellow Cardinal Advisory Group, “expresses our aim to help clients live a one in a million life, with tailored wealth management solutions to help them reach their personal and business financial goals,” Yellow Cardinal President Greg Harris said in a press release. According to ornithology experts, yellow cardinals make up less than 1% of the species’ total population. In tandem with the rebranding, the $16.3 billion-asset First Financial unveiled enhanced succession planning and fixed-income capabilities. It reported assets under management and care of $3.3 billion at Dec. 31, along with $1.7 billion in its retail brokerage platform. — John Reosti

Zoom builds a dedicated product for financial institutions

Zoom Video Communications Application Ahead Of Earnings Figures

Bloomberg News

Zoom has introduced a feature specifically intended for financial institutions: archiving meetings and webinars. Archiving is different from saving files to the cloud because it captures data or metadata — including meeting IDs and universal unique identifiers, both public and direct messages, and relevant dates and timestamps — to meet certain compliance guidelines. To archive a meeting, account administrators choose a third-party application such as Smarsh or Theta Lake from Zoom’s app marketplace. When the meeting is over, the application will use Zoom’s archiving application programming interfaces to grab the files from Zoom’s cloud storage. The company says that features such as archiving are essential for institutions hoping to embrace digital transformation and are subject to regulatory oversight. — Miriam Cross

Citizens Financial lures a new general counsel from Capital One

Bloomberg News

Citizens Financial Group in Providence, Rhode Island, is hiring Polly Klane as general counsel and chief legal officer. Klane, who was most recently the deputy general counsel at Capital One Financial, will start her new job on April 4, Citizens announced this week. She will report to Bruce Van Saun, Citizens’ chairman and CEO, and join the executive team. Klane succeeds Malcolm Griggs, Citizens’ chief risk officer, who has been overseeing the company’s legal department. Griggs will retain the chief risk officer role and remain on the executive committee. — Allissa Kline

KeyCorp sets growth target for Laurel Road digital bank

KeyCorp has big expectations for Laurel Road, the student loan refinancing platform that it acquired in 2019. The Cleveland-based company, which has since transformed the platform into a full-service digital bank for doctors and dentists, expects membership to grow to 250,000 by 2025, executives told analysts at the firm’s recent investor day. That’s five times the number of members today and represents $300 million of “annual, sustainable relationship-based revenue,” said Alyssa Schaefer, head of Laurel Road. The increase in members will come in part from opening Laurel Road for Doctors to the nation’s four million nurses, which is expected to happen this year. — Allissa Kline

Fifth Third expands role for chief corporate responsibility officer

Signage is displayed outside a Fifth Third Bank branch in Louisville, Kentucky.

Bloomberg News

Fifth Third Bancorp in Cincinnati is tasking Kala Gibson, the company’s chief corporate responsibility officer, with oversight of the firm’s sustainability and inclusion and diversity initiatives.
Gibson, who joined the $211 billion-asset company in 2011 as a business banking executive, will also chair the Fifth Third Foundation distribution committee, the company said in a press release. In his expanded role, Gibson will be in charge of creating an internal and external inclusion and diversity strategy; overseeing environmental, social and governance efforts; and working with stakeholders to achieve the company’s corporate responsibility goals. He has led community development and social responsibility since 2020. — Allissa Kline

OppFi CEO resigns after two months

Neville Crawley resigned as the chief executive of OppFi after less than two months leading the high-cost fintech lender. Crawley, who joined OppFi last July as president and was promoted to CEO on Dec. 31, entered into a separation agreement with the company. OppFi’s board appointed Todd Schwartz, the company’s founder and executive chairman, as the new CEO. OppFi’s lead independent director said in a press release that Schwartz is “uniquely qualified to lead the company” and that it was grateful to Crawley for his leadership. An OppFi spokesperson declined to provide more details on the move. — Polo Rocha

iQ Credit Union names new retail chief

iQ Credit Union in Vancouver, Washington, promoted Ali Migaki to chief retail officer to oversee branch operations and member and lending contact centers. Migaki, previously senior vice president of retail services, has been with the credit union for 26 years. “As chief retail officer, she is in a position to lead initiatives that will continue to advance our service offerings and improve the member experience," Eric Petracca, iQ's president and chief executive, said in a press release. — Daniel Wolfe

Nuvision Credit Union designated as a CDFI

Stamp - Certified

Ayd?n PERÃEM/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Nuvision Credit Union in Huntington Beach, California, is now a certified community development financial institution. “Many hard-working members in the markets we serve have not received the economic opportunities they deserve, which has only been highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic” and “designation as a CDFI now means Nuvision has more access to funds and fewer restrictions to serving our markets," Roger Ballard, chief executive of the $2.8 billion-asset Nuvision, said in a press release. — Frank Gargano

CFPB promotes Frotman, restores stand-alone fair-lending office

Seth Frotman was named general counsel at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a position he hasserved in an acting capacity since October. Frotman most recently was executive of the Student Borrower Protection Center and formerly was the CFPB’s student loan ombudsman. The bureau also realigned several of its offices, according to a Feb. 28 memo to staff from deputy CFPB Director Zixta Q. Martinez. The Office of Fair Lending and Equal Opportunity, the Office of Civil Rights and the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion will all be restored as standalone offices reporting to CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. Under the Trump administration, then-acting CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney caused a brouhaha by demoting the Office of Fair Lending. The CFPB also is renaming and making other changes to the Office of Innovation. The new Office of Competition and Innovation will no longer report to the director but will move to the Research, Markets and Regulations division as part of an effort to promote competition and “shift market power toward consumers and law-abiding businesses,” Martinez said in the memo. — Kate Berry

Amazon shuts down walk-in stores

Amazon is closing 68 of its brick-and-mortar stores that use traditional checkout lanes — including many stand-alone bookstores — while expanding its grocery and convenience stores equipped with the company’s Just Walk Out cashierless-checkout technology, according to a report in Chain Store Age. The retail giant will soon open its first Amazon Style store in Glendale, California, where users can try on clothing and shoes by scanning a QR code on items displayed in the store or within the Amazon Shopping app. Clerks will bring merchandise to customers in fitting rooms featuring touchscreens that can be used to request other sizes or styles as well as to purchase and rate items. — Kate Fitzgerald