Florida regulators have given a green light to BankMiami, giving the metropolitan area its first new bank since the banking crisis of 2008. And the ties between financial services and sports are getting deeper, as Royal Bank of Canada signed a sponsorship deal with the LA Galaxy soccer team. That and more in the American Banker weekly news roundup.
New community bank to launch in Miami
De novo BankMiami plans to open for business on March 17, the start-up's organizers said in a LinkedIn post.
Organizers received approvals from Florida's Office of Financial Regulation and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Organizers were required to raise more than $30 million of initial capital.
BankMiami said in its application that it expects to have $390 million of assets by the end of its third year. It projected profitability in the third quarter of its second year.
Mary Usategui is expected to serve as BankMiami's president and CEO. Usategui was chief financial officer of Professional Bank in Miami until it was acquired by Seacoast Banking Corp. of Florida in 2023.
BankMiami would be the first de novo in South Florida's largest market since 2008. —Jim Dobbs
Citi taps new accounting chief
Citigroup has hired JPMorgan Chase veteran Nicole Giles as its chief accounting officer, effective Friday.
Giles, who most recently served at JPMorgan as chief financial officer of commercial and investment banking, will mark Citi's permanent replacement after former chief accounting officer and controller Johnbull Okpara left last fall for the same role at Bank of America. Since then, Robert Walsh and Patrick Scally have been serving as the top accounting and controller on an interim basis.
In her new role, Giles will be paid a base salary of $500,000 and will receive replacement deferred equity and cash awards totaling about $13.7 million, slated to vest until January 2029.
Citi said it would give CEO Jane Fraser
Royal Bank of Canada signs partnership deal with LA Galaxy
Royal Bank of Canada and its Los Angeles-based subsidiary will sponsor the LA Galaxy men's soccer team.
RBC's City National Bank will serve as the official bank and wealth management partner for the team, which won the 2024 Major League Soccer Cup, LA Galaxy said in a press release last week.
The multi-year partnership includes branding on the team's uniforms and stadium and expands upon RBC Wealth Management U.S.'s existing sponsorship of MLS.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed. The team's previous sponsor in the bank and wealth management category,
FNB opens headquarters in downtown Pittsburgh
FNB Corp., the holding company for First National Bank in Pittsburgh, marked the grand opening of its new downtown headquarters this week. The bank owns and occupies the majority of the 26-story tower in the city's Hill District.
The newest addition to the Pittsburgh skyline, and one of the few multi-tenant towers constructed in the central business district during the past four decades, FNB Financial Center adds a modern workspace and amenities to the downtown marketplace, the bank said in a press release. It is part of an effort to revitalize the Hill District neighborhood.
"It is extremely rewarding to have played a role in bringing hundreds of high-quality jobs to Pittsburgh, and also to have realized the vision for this building for our employees and the community," FNB Chairman and Vincent J. Delie Jr. said. "Growing up on Pittsburgh's North Side with views of the city, I was inspired by our skyline and its beauty, and now FNB is part of it." —Jim Dobbs
Veteran bank executive Robert Goldstein dies at 84
Robert Goldstein, whose banking career spanned 50 years and companies across the country, died Monday of complications caused by pancreatic cancer. He was 84 and lived in Westport, Connecticut.
According to his obituary, he was the CEO of several banks, first in the Northeast turning around troubled lenders and later in various markets starting up new banks. In all, he held leadership roles at 20 financial institutions in 11 states. He worked up until late 2024. Most recently, he was a founding principal in CapGen Financial, a private investment fund that invests in community banks. He also served on the board of directors at the $166 million-asset Cypress Bank & Trust in Melbourne, Florida.
Tom Michaud, president and CEO of investment bank Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, was a long-time colleague and friend of Goldstein's. "Bob loved being a banker," Michaud told American Banker. "Right up to the end, he was very active. He was an investor magnate because he was extraordinarily knowledgeable." —Jim Dobbs
1895 Bancorp in metropolitan Milwaukee to consider sale
1895 Bancorp of Wisconsin, the parent company of PyraMax Bank FSB, said it would consider selling itself as part of a comprehensive strategic review.
The Greenfield, Wisconsin-based company hired Keefe, Bruyette & Woods as its financial advisor to assess alternatives. The engagement is broad in scope and could involve consideration of a strategic business combination or sale of control, according to a news release. The company did not set a deadline to complete the review.
1895 Bancorp has not been consistently profitable since 2021.
The $564 million-asset bank, which operates in Greater Milwaukee, also said it intends to delist its common stock from the Nasdaq Stock Market and deregister the stock. The company said it has notified Nasdaq of its plan and expects to file a notification of removal with the SEC on March 7. —Jim Dobbs
Shift 4 to acquire luxury payments provider Global Blue
Payments provider Shift 4 has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire luxury payments provider Global Blue for $2.5 billion, representing a 15% premium on Global Blue's closing share price as of Feb. 14, the company said Wednesday.
Global Blue is a specialty payments and tech platform focused on the travel and luxury verticals and allows for tax-free shopping and currency conversion across Europe, Asia and South America, with more than 400,000 premium retail and hospitality locations on its platform.
"This acquisition continues a bold tradition of introducing transformative capabilities to exceptional customers along with a massive embedded cross-sell opportunity," said Shift4 President Taylor Lauber in a statement. "It fits perfectly in the Shift4 playbook: delivering an enormous volume conversion opportunity while unlocking significant new revenue opportunities and capabilities that open entirely new markets for us." —Joey Pizzolato
Meriwest Credit Union promotes Chad Maze
Meriwest Credit Union has given the title of executive vice president to its chief operating officer, Chad Maze.
Maze joined the $2.1 billion-asset credit union in December 2023 as the COO. Before that, Maze was chief operating officer at a large credit union in the Midwest, Meriwest said on its website.
In his new role, Maze will continue to lead all member-focused business functions. He will also lead the Meriwest Community Foundation as its chair, the credit union said in a press release Tuesday. —Mary de Wet
