City National's new branch, Fiserv expands tech alliance with PayPal

August 30, 2024 2:13 PM

City National Bank plans a new branch in California that fulfills one of its settlement obligations with the DOJ; Fiserv and PayPal expand their tech collaboration; Banc of California's Monica Sparks steps down; and more in this week's banking news roundup.

City National Bank - event in advance of new branch opening in Whittier, California - Aug. 27, 2024

Ning Wong

City National plans branch that will fulfill obligation to DOJ

City National Bank is planning to open a new branch in Whittier, California, that would satisfy an obligation it incurred as part of a 2023 settlement for alleged lending discrimination.

City National, which is a unit of Royal Bank of Canada, agreed to pay $31 million in the largest redlining settlement in the Department of Justice's history.

Under a consent order with the DOJ, City National also pledged to open a full-service branch in a majority Black and Hispanic Census tract in the Los Angeles area.

The new branch in Whittier, which is about 15 miles southeast of downtown L.A., is scheduled to open in early 2025.

"City National is dedicated to ensuring that all consumers and businesses have an equal opportunity to apply for and obtain credit," a spokesperson said in an email, "and we will continue working with our regulators to improve our efforts to meet the needs of underserved groups in our communities."

City National executives spoke Wednesday at an event held in Whittier to celebrate the branch's planned opening.

Vanessa Montañez, community lending national manager at City National, focused her remarks on mortgage lending and homeownership. "City National is dedicated to making the dream of homeownership more accessible to the communities we serve," she said. —Kevin Wack

Gabby Jones/Bloomberg

PayPal, Fiserv expand payments tech collaboration

Fiserv has updated its technology to simplify connections to Fastlane, a PayPal product that enables consumers to save card and shipping information for future purchases across Fastlane's merchant network. Fiserv is also adding updated technology for connections to PayPal's Venmo transfer app. The deal is a potential boost for PayPal's strategy to increase investment in payments technology as it attempts to recover from an earnings slump in 2022 and 2023. In testing with BigCommerce's online sellers, Fastlane improved checkout conversion rate from about 45% to 70%, according to PayPal. PayPal and Fiserv have collaborated for more than ten years, with initiatives including payment processing and e-commerce technology. —John Adams

Banc of California to move headquarters roundup slide

Eric Thayer/Bloomberg

Banc of California chief account officer steps down

Banc of California has tapped an interim chief accounting officer as Monica Sparks, who currently serves in the role, steps down next month. Sparks became chief accounting officer at the Southern California-based bank when it acquired PacWest Bancorp last year in a high-profile transaction that followed a spate of bank failures. Sparks had previously served in the same role at PacWest.

Banc of California announced that Jeffrey Krumpoch, who also came from legacy PacWest, will take on the top accounting role upon Sparks' departure. —Catherine Leffert

Scotiabank completes first round of KeyCorp stock purchases

The Bank of Nova Scotia has completed its initial investment in KeyCorp and now owns 4.9% of the Cleveland-based bank's common stock.

KeyCorp said in a press release Friday that the first round of Scotiabank's investment totals approximately $800 million.

Toronto-based Scotiabank announced plans on Aug. 12 to make a minority investment in KeyCorp that will eventually total $2.8 billion.

The two companies expect the second phase of the investment to occur in the first quarter of next year. That $2.0 billion investment needs the Federal Reserve's approval.

Scotiabank CEO Scott Thomson has said that the KeyCorp investment is attractive because it provides a "low-risk, low-cost" way to grow the Canadian bank's presence in the United States. —Kevin Wack

BofA’s Gapen to join Morgan Stanley as chief U.S. economist

Michael Gapen, the head of U.S. economics at Bank of America, is departing the bank to take a similar role at Morgan Stanley. Gapen will start at Morgan Stanley as chief U.S. economist in late November, according to an internal memo reviewed by Bloomberg News. He will replace Ellen Zentner, who left her post this month to lead a newly created team within the bank's wealth management business.

"In this seat, Mike will be responsible for developing the firm's outlook on the U.S. economy," Seth Carpenter, Morgan Stanley's chief global economist, said in a memo circulated Wednesday.

Gapen didn't respond to a request for comment. Bank of America spokesperson Melissa Anchan confirmed his departure and said senior economist Aditya Bhave will assume his responsibilities as interim head of U.S. economics. —Augusta Saraiva, Bloomberg News

Societe Generale in talks to hire Barclays dealmaker Chiapparoli

Societe Generale SA is in talks to hire Italian dealmaker Enrico Chiapparoli from Barclays for a senior role in Milan, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The banker is leaving Barclays just a few months after being appointed co-head of industrials for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the people said. The prospective move comes as Alessandro Gumier, Societe Generale's country head for global banking and investor solutions in Italy, prepares to retire later this year, according to the people.

Chiapparoli, who joined Barclays in London in 2016, has served as chief executive officer of Barclays Italy and previously led its EMEA automotive group, according to his LinkedIn profile. He earlier worked at Bank of America Merrill Lynch for nearly 20 years, eventually becoming its head of Italy investment banking and chairman of the firm's EMEA automotive group.

The departure would leave Richard Probert as the sole head of industrials at Barclays, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Chiapparoli declined to comment, as did representatives for Societe Generale and Barclays. —Pamela Barbaglia and Dinesh Nair, Bloomberg News

JPMorgan is said to hire dealmaker Yang Ruo for China TMT

JPMorgan Chase has hired Yang Ruo to lead its China telecommunications, media and technology team, according to people familiar with the matter.

Yang previously served as chief financial officer at Shopline Ltd. and Xiaohongshu Technology, and was a co-chief financial officer at Fosun, according to his profile on LinkedIn. He also worked as an investment banker at Citigroup.

He will be based in Hong Kong to help lead the China TMT franchise at JPMorgan, working on transactions including mergers and acquisitions and initial public offerings, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private.

Yang's hire follows the departure of Crystal Zhu earlier this year. Zhu, the former head of China TMT at JPMorgan, left to join rival Morgan Stanley, —Bloomberg News