Bank channel

Moving into management isn't a natural progression for some. It requires a different skill set and it's not always the most successful advisors who make the grade.

Regulators are threatening more action to force improvements in the behavior of bank employees, but executives are shooting back that the task is easier said than done and that change has to come from inside and not through supervisory orders.

Royal Bank of Canada is exiting wealth management in the Caribbean, extending a retreat in its international wealth business that began last year in Latin America.

Steven Sugarman, chief executive at Banc of California, recently completed a large branch acquisition after a public battle with an advocacy group. In a recent interview, he discussed that process as well as the bank's busy year — both the good and the bad.

The wirehouse said it scooped up two advisors from rivals Raymond James and J.P. Morgan.

Two advisors have left J.P. Morgan Private Bank to join Barclays' wealth management division in Palm Beach, Fla.

Ask three bankers about the value of in-store branches, and you might get four opinions. Moreover, you would swear none of them are even discussing the same business when the conversations are done.

The unit is aggressively pursuing modest mass-affluent investors with less than $500,000 in investible assets and its effort appears to be paying off.

Layout, compensation and training can make or break high-tech, high-concept branches, said bankers at BAI's Retail Delivery conference.

A group of ultrawealthy Citigroup clients clamoring for big returns on U.S. real estate have entered into funding commitments for a new commercial and multifamily development on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, Calif. It is one of several co-investment projects the firm is offering through its private bank.

Federal prosecutor Loretta Lynch may soon replace Attorney General Eric Holder, leaving bankers wondering whether she will be tougher on institutions than her predecessor.

Prime brokerage clients (read hedge funds) are the latest kind of customer being cut loose by banks as they curtail business with parties deemed high risk. Other banks are being careful about the castoffs they recruit, and nonbank brokers are on the rise.

Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management announces that it has recruited three private bankers from Citigroup and Credit Suisse.

Banks on opposite coasts — Sterling Bancorp in New York and Banner in Washington — are joining the list of institutions teetering on the $10 billion-asset threshold where a slew of new regulation kicks in. The banks' CEOs said they were finally able to peg the expected costs of reaching that size.

Banks are not closing branches fast enough to keep up with the exodus to online banking. The percentage of branches with low transaction volume is on the rise, according to a new study. Bankers say they are on the case, but there are obstacles to simply hanging a "closed" sign on the front door.

Bank holding companies generated $3.07 billion in insurance brokerage fee income in the first half of 2014, down 8.9% year-over-year.

Bank of America cut third- quarter earnings by $400 million, wiping out the surprise profit it reported last month, as the firm braced for the end of probes into foreign-exchange dealings.

Female small business owners were more likely than men to view their financial advisors as important in managing, growing and protecting their assets.

Bank holding companies raked in $1.81 billion in annuity sales in the first half of 2014, up 11.5% year-over-year.

Sen. Richard Shelby is expected to become chairman of the Senate Banking Committee next year after Republicans seized enough seats to take control of the chamber. But the Alabama Republican will face a time-crunch to get his agenda through.