Unity Bank partners with Encore Energy Group on EV charging stations

Unity Bank in Clinton, NJ, goes electric with EV charging stations

December 6, 2024 2:15 PM

In this week's banking news roundup: Unity Bank in Clinton, NJ, now offers EV charging stations in a collaboration with Encore Energy Group; fintech Beneficient announced its agreement to acquire Puerto Rico-based Mercantile Bank; Trump named payments exec Jared Isaacman to run NASA; and more.

Unity Bank installs EV-charging stations

Unity Bank has put in charging stations for electric vehicles at its Clinton, New Jersey, headquarters.

The $2.6 billion-asset bank collaborated with Encore Energy Group to install the Lynkwell charging stations, Unity Bank said in a press release.

The DCFC chargers offer four plugs and 60kW DC fast charging, allowing up to four vehicles to refuel at the same time, the bank said.

The charging stations cost $129,500 but, with incentives and rebates, the net cost was $57,500, Marketing Director Crystal Rose said.

The chargers are available to the public, and employees and bank customers will get a discount on charging fees, the bank said.

"We hope that by offering access to EV charging, more individuals will consider switching to electric vehicles and contribute to a more sustainable future," President and CEO James Hughes said in the release.

The bank is collecting data on usage of the charging stations to determine if it should install more, Rose said. Unity Bank operates 21 branches in New Jersey and the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. —Mary de Wet

Beneficient to buy Puerto Rico’s Mercantile Bank in $1.5 million deal

Beneficient entered into an agreement to acquire Mercantile Bank International in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $1.5 million.

The fintech said the purchase of the Puerto Rico-based bank will enable it to expand its offering of custody services to include a line of business focused on issuing depositary receipts to assist holders of foreign investments to gain access to the capital markets of additional international jurisdictions.

Mercantile Bank is an international financial entity, which allows it to provide banking and other financial services for people and entities that aren't residents of Puerto Rico.

Beneficient will pay for the acquisition with 2.1 million shares of its Class A common stock and the remainder in cash.

Beneficient's shares closed at 81 cents on the Nasdaq exchange on Thursday. —Mary de Wet

Trump nominates payments exec Jared Isaacman to run NASA

Donald Trump has named fintech executive and astronaut Jared Isaacman to be the next NASA administrator. Isaac is CEO of Shift4, an Allentown, Pa.-based digital payments company that counts Elon Musk's SpaceX as a client. Musk is also running a government cost-cutting initiative for Trump.

This could create a potential conflict of interest around Isaacman's NASA nomination, which the U.S. Senate must confirm.

NASA has a $25 billion annual budget and has a series of space and robotic projects underway, including the Artemis moon mission. Isaacman is the third Trump administration nominee with experience in the fintech industry.

The incoming president this week nominated Fiserv CEO Frank Bisignano to be commissioner of the Social Security Administration. Trump also nominated former PayPal Chief Operating Officer David Sacks to be the White House AI and Crypto Czar. —John Adams

BNY taps new deputy chief risk officer

The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation announced Thursday that it had appointed Rajashree Datta as deputy chief risk officer, effective Dec. 15.

Datta joins BNY after a 25-year career at Goldman Sachs, where she most recently served as global head of finance risk. In that role, which she took on in 2018, she oversaw liquidity, capital and accrual rate risks. Goldman announced in June that Datta would leave the firm.

"Risk Management is an imperative for any company, especially BNY — which sits at the center of the financial system — and Rajashree's expertise in developing strong risk frameworks will help us continue to deliver resilience for our clients and the industry," said BNY CEO Robin Vince in a prepared statement. —Catherine Leffert

JPMorgan bolsters Florida bet with 300 new jobs in Orlando

JPMorgan Chase plans to hire 300 people in the Orlando area over the next two years, part of the largest U.S. bank's expansion in the South.

The firm will renovate its 250,000-square-foot campus in central Florida, which currently houses over 2,000 employees mainly from its Chase consumer banking and credit card servicing divisions. The renovation will create 400 construction jobs and contribute roughly $280 million to the area's economy, JPMorgan said in a statement Tuesday.

"Orlando is known as one of the world's premier locations for fun and entertainment, but the opportunity for business diversification in our region extends far beyond that," said Vikas Kapoor, head of operations for Chase for Business, who's based in the Florida city.

JPMorgan has been adding to its presence in Florida and Texas, with Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon criticizing areas including New York City for not doing enough to attract investments. —Anna J Kaiser, Bloomberg News

Citigroup names its largest class of MDs in at least six years

Citigroup named 344 new managing directors, the most in at least six years for the Wall Street bank.

"This represents one of the largest MD cohorts in our firm's history, and once again reflects the global diversity of Citi and the colleagues, communities and clients we serve," the bank's executive management team said Thursday in a memo to staff.

The new group includes employees from 29 countries. More than a quarter of them are women. Citigroup's management team is in the middle of a major turnaround effort as returns have lagged behind peers for years. Chief Executive Officer Jane Fraser is seeking to sharpen standards while improving the company's culture.

The bank said it promoted 304 new managing directors last year, 331 in 2022, 306 in 2021, 241 in 2020 and 220 in 2019. —Todd Gillespie, Bloomberg News

JPMorgan’s global investment banking chair to retire, join Accenture board

JPMorgan Chase's global chair of investment banking, Jennifer Nason, is set to retire from the bank after nearly four decades at Wall Street's largest lender.

Nason, who started her career at JPMorgan in 1986 as a corporate finance trainee on the metals and mining mergers and acquisition team, will step down early next year, according to a memo sent to staff Monday from commercial and investment bank co-chief executive officers Jenn Piepszak and Troy Rohrbaugh.

"An experienced and fearless banker, Jennifer has lent her perspective and expertise to companies and executives at the forefront of technology innovation and development," Piepszak and Rohrbaugh said in the memo.

After moving from Melbourne, Australia, to New York, Nason joined the consumer and retail investment banking coverage team before joining the technology investment bank as a managing director in 1998. —Ryan Gould, Bloomberg News