Latest banking news, Sept. 30, 2022

First Horizon, Carver partner with Operation HOPE on financial literacy

TD To Buy First Horizon In A $13.4 Billion U.S. Expansion

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First Horizon Corp. and Carver Federal Savings Bank are each expanding their partnerships with Operation HOPE, a nonprofit organization that provides free financial coaching primarily to underbanked customers. First Horizon announced this week that its first HOPE-led counseling hub in Louisiana is now open inside the bank's Canal Street branch in New Orleans. It's the latest in an 8-year-old partnership between First Horizon, of Memphis, Tennessee, and the nonprofit that has resulted in 30 such counseling hubs throughout the bank's footprint. Meanwhile, Carver said it is working with Operation HOPE to offer financial literacy training to help entrepreneurs and small-business owners get access to capital. Certified coaches from Operation HOPE are scheduled to be on-site at two Carver branches in New York City — one in Harlem and another in Brooklyn — where they will hold in-person office hours at least twice a week and offer virtual appointments, including during nights and weekends, Carver said. — Allissa Kline

U.S. Bank's payment processor debuts transit tech

Elavon has launched Mass Transit Payments, a service that allows transit agencies to support contactless payments from enabled cards or mobile devices. The U.S. Bank subsidiary is positioning the rollout as a way for consumers to eliminate paper tickets and track transit payments along with other transactions. There is also a trend among transit agencies to adopt open-loop payment systems as a way to reduce the expense and physical footprint required to manage an internal system for ticketing and payments. — John Adams

A new credit scoring model wants to break ground

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A financial health company called VeraScore has created a software-as-a-service model it hopes will help lenders extend credit to more Americans who currently have trouble accessing credit. The San Francisco company's patent-pending platform conducts near real-time analysis of a consumer's financial health by looking at their bank accounts, salary, mortgage, loans and other proprietary data. It uses artificial intelligence to analyze and categorize the activity in consumers' financial accounts and performs cash-flow analysis, a what-if analysis to predict how changes in a person's financial situation will affect their financial health, and more. It will be available following the completion of its seed financing round. — Miriam Cross

Block (aka Square) adopts Apple's iPhone pay

Block (formerly known as Square) has launched Apple's Tap to Pay in the U.S covering millions of sellers on Square's network. The feature, which is available in the Square Point of Sale iOS app, will allow businesses to accept payments directly on their iPhone. Tap to Pay, which launched in February, requires partnerships to bring the technology to merchants–Apple is not acting as a payment processor. Apple has entered partnerships with some large processors over the past few months, including Adyen and Stripe. While Square's original product was hardware that allowed smartphones to accept card payments, the company has become more reliant on a mix of consumer and merchant services that build of Square's Cash App. — John Adams

Bank of Montreal hires Citi's Bo Brown for private equity deals

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Bank of Montreal has hired Citigroup's Bo Brown as a managing director in its BMO Capital Markets division, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. New York-based Brown is set to join the Canadian lender in November, said one of the people, all of whom requested anonymity as the appointment isn't yet public. At Citigroup, he handled sponsor sell-side mergers and acquisitions, which is the business of selling private equity portfolio companies, LinkedIn shows. Brown didn't respond to a request for comment and a spokesman for Citigroup declined to comment. Brown joined Citigroup in July 2020 after almost 17 years at Credit Suisse Group AG, LinkedIn shows. Citigroup last year hired Credit Suisse banker Ray Raimondi to lead global asset managers mergers and acquisitions in North America. BMO, which recently cut staff, has made several recent senior hires including Peter Neckles, Laura Holden and Amit Melwani. — Gillian Tan, Bloomberg News, with assistance from Jenny Surane and Kevin Orland

RBC names Jason Gurandiano head of U.S. technology banking

Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) signage on a bank branch door.

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Royal Bank of Canada has named Jason Gurandiano head of U.S. technology banking at RBC Capital Markets, elevating one of the firm's top financial technology bankers. Gurandiano will help grow the technology business at the Toronto-based firm's investment banking unit, according to an internal memo. He will continue reporting to Kirk Kaludis, global head of technology banking. Gurandiano is currently global head of fintech and a member of RBC's crypto committee, the memo shows. He has worked on transactions for clients including SS&C Technologies Holdings, Virtu Financial and Broadridge Financial Solutions. Before joining RBC in 2015, he was head of fintech at Deutsche Bank and also worked at Credit Suisse Group and Citigroup. A representative for RBC confirmed the contents of the memo. — Matthew Monks, Bloomberg News

Amazon boosts early wage access

As Amazon faces pressure from potential unionization, the e-commerce company is setting aside $1 billion to boost hourly wages to $19 for warehouse and transportation workers and $16 for fulfillment workers (Amazon's minimum wage is $15 per hour). Amazon is also expanding Anytime Pay, its earned wage access product. The program, which was limited, will now be available to all U.S. workers, who can access up to 70% of their pay with no fee. Earned wage access programs have existed for years, but have picked up steam as inflation has spiked over the past year. Earned wage access is also considered a recruitment perk, particularly as more jobs migrate away from traditional twice-monthly payroll schedules. — John Adams

M&T Bank selling insurance business

M&T Bank agreed to sell its retail insurance business to Arthur Gallagher & Co., a global brokerage and consulting firm. M&T Insurance Agency provides commercial business, home and auto and high-net-worth insurance products. Its "direct employees" are expected to join Gallagher and continue to service M&T's Northeastern and mid-Atlantic footprint, according to a statement from the Buffalo, New York, bank. The deal is expected to close later this year pending regulatory approval. The price was not disclosed. — Jordan Stutts