Bank channel

Banks in areas hit hard by Hurricane Sandy have re-opened most of their branches. Now some of them are opening their checkbooks, too.

Jonathan Blackwood joined as a senior private banker, while David Noosinow joined as senior sales director to help develop business throughout Georgia and in Lexington and Louisville, Ky.

Why are there so few women at the top ranks of large banks? One factor: they lose hope. That needs to change, editor-at-large Barbara Rehm says.

As Invest Financial Corp. marks its 30th anniversary, some of its veteran representatives remember the early days and discuss how far the industry has come over the years.

The new practice management program includes retirement seminars, educational materials with action plans, online tools and a structured framework that financial advisors can follow with their clients, the company said.

As Hurricane Sandy makes its way inland, bankers from Virginia to Maine are now focusing on post-storm crisis management. Payrolls for late October are a key concern.

Kweku Adoboli, the former UBS AG trader on trial over a $2.3 billion trading loss, said his girlfriend encouraged him to confess his losses to managers while another trader on his desk told him to flee the country.

Citigroup Inc., the third-largest U.S. bank, said its office at 111 Wall St. will be unusable for weeks and that a building housing senior capital-markets executives lost power after Hurricane Sandy hit Lower Manhattan.

Updated to include information about LPL. While the Northeast hunkered down yesterday waiting for Hurricane Sandy, it was pretty much business as usual for bank advisors—or at least for their clients.

Microsoft's new operating system and tablet officially launches today. ING Direct in Canada already has a tablet and desktop banking app for Windows 8; Bank of America and USAA are developing them.

Banks in the forecasted path of Hurricane Sandy braced Sunday for the storm, while making plans to help their operations weather it without interruption.

Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are among Wall Street firms planning to shift operations to other cities and have staff work from home as Hurricane Sandy’s arrival in New York forces evacuations.

Ascent Private Capital Management names two managing directors in Seattle area.

Paul Cummings will serve as regional managing director for the Northeast Region, overseeing asset management and other services in New York and Philadelphia.

Almost seven in 10 mass-affluent couples (69%) discuss their finances at least a few times a month. That’s more than what many spend talking about other topics, such as the election, work, sex, and even their kids.

Leaders of the largest banks are using third-quarter calls to discuss a reluctance to pursue bank acquisitions. The underlying message? Smaller banks are likely to spur the next big wave of consolidation.

Almost one in two consumers (47%) say they keep the majority of their assets with banks, up from 44% in 2011. Self-directed firms and full-service brokers, in contrast, had only 28% and 15% of the market, respectively.

Trustmark's company's earnings rose 2% from the second quarter and 9.5% from a year earlier, to $29.9 million. The Jackson, Miss., company said in a press release late Tuesday that higher revenue from insurance commissions.

Bank of America Corp., the lender that got a $5 billion boost from Warren Buffett last year, now has the “top capital” among peers and is capable of paying a bigger dividend, said Chief Executive Officer Brian T. Moynihan.

A tipping point is coming regarding anger and dissatisfaction over Dodd-Frank. But a new assessment of the regulatory landscape points a way for policymakers to get out of the mess.