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KeyCorp announced on Monday the appointment of Chris Doll as Chief Strategy Officer and Deputy Chief Financial Officer, effective immediately. Doll will report to CFO Clark Khayat and join the financial leadership team and executive committee of the $191 billion-asset bank. Previously, Doll served as Executive Vice President and CFO at City National Bank for nearly three years, and earlier spent 13 years at Fifth Third.
Truist's new CEO Mike Lyons officially took office on Tuesday, with analysts expecting him to propose a 'bold and ambitious' plan to improve profitability within 90 days. Investors generally believe the company urgently needs a 'major reset,' but former CEO Bill Rogers' retention as executive chairman until April 2027 may limit Lyons' autonomy.
BitGo announced on Thursday the completion of its acquisition of NYDIG's institutional trading business, which includes related assets and the transfer of approximately 30 employees. This move aims to meet institutional clients' demand for a one-stop digital asset infrastructure and strengthen BitGo's service capabilities in custody, trading, financing, and settlement. NYDIG, in turn, will shift its strategic focus to Bitcoin mining and high-performance computing data center operations. The transaction amount has not been made public.
U.S. Federal Judge Beth Labson Freeman ruled that Silicon Valley Bank's former parent company, SVB Financial Group, has no right to reclaim $1.7 billion from the FDIC because executives, including CFO Daniel Beck and Treasurer Michael Kruse, breached their fiduciary duties, exposing the bank to excessive interest rate and liquidity risks. This ruling is the latest development in the legal disputes related to SVB's collapse in March 2023.
U.S. Bank announced on Monday that it will form corporate banking teams in Florida and Georgia, while expanding operations in Dallas and Phoenix to strengthen its national corporate banking presence. Dee O'Dell, the bank's head of corporate banking sales, revealed that the team currently has about 1,300 people and may continue to add teams in other regions where it already has wealth management and middle-market businesses.
On the occasion of completing 100 days at the helm of the Federal Reserve, Chair Kevin Warsh again articulated his 'quieter Fed' approach at the Jackson Hole annual symposium: downplaying forward guidance, strengthening inflation governance, and urging market participants to independently assess economic data. He also acknowledged that the central bank's understanding of new variables such as artificial intelligence and token prices remains limited.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) conditionally approved on Tuesday the deposit insurance application of VALT Bank, a fully digital bank founded by a team of former Bank of America executives. Headquartered in Eagle, Idaho, the bank had previously received conditional charter approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in March.
The OCC and FDIC jointly issued final rules on Thursday, providing for the first time a formal definition of 'unsafe or unsound practices' and unifying the timing and standards for issuing 'Matters Requiring Attention' (MRA). This move aims to shift regulatory and enforcement focus toward risks that could cause material harm to an institution's financial soundness or the deposit insurance fund, rather than non-financial matters such as processes or documentation. FDIC Chairman Travis Hill stated that the rule will guide examiners to focus on issues with significant financial impact, and that most existing supervisory criticisms that do not meet the new standards have been closed or are in the process of being closed. On the same day, the OCC revised its enforcement and MRA policy manuals and separately proposed a draft rule distinguishing 'material violations' from 'technical violations.' The American Bankers Association (ABA) welcomed the move, stating it will enhance certainty in examinations and supervision; however, Democrats such as Senator Elizabeth Warren and scholar Jeremy Kress criticized that the rule may 'disarm examiners' and weaken early risk intervention capabilities.
The testimony of former JPMorgan executive Jes Staley at the House hearing was released on Wednesday. The testimony showed that he had advocated for keeping Epstein's account, shared confidential information with him, discussed Epstein with CEO Jamie Dimon, and may have informed him of the client's high-risk status.
First Financial Corp. announced on Thursday that it will acquire First Illinois Corp. for approximately $111.3 million. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter, bringing Hickory Point Bank and Trust under its umbrella and adding 8 branches in central Illinois for First Financial. The combined bank will have total assets of approximately $6.9 billion, deposits of $5.5 billion, and loans of $4.9 billion.