Texas Capital Bancshares promotes Aimee Williams-Ramey

January 10, 2025 2:01 PM

In this week's banking news roundup: Texas Capital Bancshares promotes Aimee Williams-Ramey to chief human resources officer; M&T Bank hires Wells Fargo veteran Krista Phillips for newly created post of chief customer officer; Paul Connolly and Paul Speiss age out of their positions on Eastern Bankshares' board; and more.

Roundup slide on Texas Capital Bancshares

Aimee Williams-Ramey

Texas Capital appoints new human resources head

Texas Capital Bancshares has promoted Aimee Williams-Ramey to chief human resources officer and added her to the executive leadership team, the Dallas-based company announced in a press release. Williams-Ramey, who joined Texas Capital in May 2024, will report to CEO Rob Holmes and oversee talent acquisition and development, compensation, benefits and employee engagement, according to the release. Williams-Ramey succeeds Shannon Jurecka, who recently left Texas Capital to become the head of human resources at Charles Schwab. Prior to being hired as Texas Capital's deputy general counsel and assistant corporate secretary, Williams-Ramey served as the chief legal officer at Six Flags Entertainment from 2022 to 2023, according to her LinkedIn profile. Earlier roles include general counsel at Sabre Corp. in Dallas and regional chief counsel at FINRA. —Allissa Kline

Krista Phillips

M&T Bank

Krista Phillips moves to M&T

M&T Bank has hired Wells Fargo veteran Krista Phillips, the Buffalo-based firm announced on Monday. Phillips will be M&T's chief customer officer, a newly created post where she'll oversee the bank's marketing, analytics and customer experience teams.

"I am thrilled to join M&T Bank and take on the role of chief customer officer," Phillips said in a statement. "I look forward to leading the talented teams at M&T and driving forward our commitment to putting customers at the heart of everything we do."

Phillips has worked in banking for more than a quarter century. She previously held leadership positions on the marketing teams of JPMorgan Chase, Citi and, most recently, Wells Fargo, where she was chief marketing officer and head of consumer credit cards. Under her leadership, Wells launched a co-branded credit card with Choice Hotels International. — Nathan Place

Eastern Bank shrinks board

Eastern Bankshares said two of its directors have aged out of serving on the board and it doesn't plan to replace them.

Paul Connolly, the retired chief operating officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, and Paul Speiss, the former chairman of Centrix Bank and Trust, quit their positions in accordance with Eastern's age limits for board members, the bank said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday.

"We are not seeking replacements at this time," said Andrea Goodman, senior vice president of Public Relations & Communications for Eastern Bank.

"As part of regular and ongoing succession planning and through our recent merger with Cambridge Trust, we have welcomed various new members to the Board over the past few years who bring and add a range of experiences including in the areas where our retiring Board Members were involved," Goodman said.

The resignations of Connolly and Speiss took effect Dec. 31. Without them, Eastern's board members will total 15. —Mary de Wet

CIBC taps Atlas SP executive to lead new U.S. credit team

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce hired Margaret Dellafera as head of its new U.S. residential credit business in the Toronto-based bank's latest push to expand its American offerings.

Dellafera was previously a managing director at Atlas SP Partners in New York, where she oversaw residential mortgage origination. At CIBC, she will build out its residential mortgage financing services, the bank announced Monday.

Dellafera will report to Brad Larson, head of global credit financing for the U.S. region.

"A highly respected industry veteran with a strong track record in the U.S. residential mortgage business, Margaret brings extensive leadership experience to our bank," Larson said in a statement.

CIBC hired Holden Keating as the team's executive director in October. Keating, who was vice president of securitized products at Atlas SP, will report to Dellafera, as he did when they worked at Atlas. —Stephanie Hughesk Bloomberg News

Deposit broker R&T chooses board chair to be CEO

R&T Deposit Solutions has tapped its executive chairperson to serve as its next chief executive officer, the deposit broker announced this week in a press release. Effective Jan. 16, Susan Cosgrove will succeed Joe Jerkovich, who announced his retirement as president and CEO earlier this month, the release said.

Cosgrove, who has led the board since the fall of 2023, will retain her seat as chairperson, where she has been helping to steer R&T's strategic direction over the past 14 months. Prior to becoming chairperson, she worked at the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp., where she held several roles including chief financial officer and president of clearing and security services, the release said.

Jerkovich, meanwhile, will serve as an advisor to the CEO, the release said. He became R&T's president and CEO in January 2022, according to his LinkedIn profile. —Allissa Kline

The Clearing House’s RTP volume jumps 38% in 2024

The Clearing House's real-time payment network logged an increase in payment volume and payment value in 2024 as sluggish adoption picked up new momentum.

Payment volume increased 38% from 2023 to 343 million transactions, according to a TCH release. Payment value on the network nearly doubled from a year ago, rising 94% to $246 billion.

About 98 million of those transactions came in the fourth quarter of 2024, valued at $80 billion, representing 12% and 16% increases, respectively, on a linked-quarter basis. Average payment value landed at $719, up from $514 in 2023. Transaction limits are set to increase to $10 million from $1 million on Feb. 9.

The number of participating financial institutions also increased in 2024, rising 67% from a year ago. Most of those joined as receive-only, a TCH spokesperson said in an email but noted that "starting mid 2024, we started to see more smaller FIs join as both Send and Receive right off the bat." —Joey Pizzolato