BankTown Banking & Finance News

[elrodvt]

Back to HFT (high frequency trading). I've resd a little about physical limitations and how that affects HFT resulting in strange co-location decisions or dedicated fiber lines of incredible length. I thought starlink might be able to be a game changer here. However, I've read 100% opposite viewpoints on whether it will. Does anyone know and can you show the #'s that make it so?

[Matthew.Brendan]

Boils down to latency. Basically the return time trip to reach out to your endpoint and get a response. No matter how greatly improved by Starlink’s lower orbits they are still higher latency than undersea fiber optics between NY and London.

[KJHburg]

this one photo shows Charlotte's banking prowess (and all 3 newer buildings) and here is a story about the financial industry one of 2 to add to jobs in Charlotte last year from the Chamber.

Charlotte Regional Business Alliance | Industry Insights: Financial Services in the Charlotte Region

[SydneyCarton]

We need to add JP Morgan to that.  They could surely use a 1m sf outpost.

[KJHburg]

Speaking of banks MUFG Union Bank the Japanese owned bank with offices for now in Wework uptown has 100 job openings here in Charlotte.  Sounds like they are in super growth mode here and will need a place to call home permanently.  They have tech, audit, compliance jobs etc. 

Search our Job Opportunities at Mufg Union Bank, National Association (mufgamericas.com)

[KJHburg]

quick search shows Bank of America has 166 job openings here

Wells Fargo despite what you hear about layoffs (and there are some) has 354 job openings here  Most of any location nationwide

Ally Bank 118 jobs posted here   Most of any location nationwide 

US Bank 21 jobs all non branch related 

 

 

[atlrvr]

11 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

quick search shows Bank of America has 166 job openings here

Wells Fargo despite what you hear about layoffs (and there are some) has 354 job openings here  Most of any location nationwide

Ally Bank 118 jobs posted here   Most of any location nationwide 

US Bank 21 jobs all non branch related 

 

 

Trust, Citibank, Regions, Citizens?  I'm pretty certain over a dozen each.

[KJHburg]

Citizens Bank of Rhode Island 13 jobs and non branch level as they have no branches mostly IT

Citibank 15 jobs

Regions 12 jobs 

Truist is too much to look for as they dont have one website for both banks 

 

[Blue_Devil]

16 hours ago, KJHburg said:

Citizens Bank of Rhode Island 13 jobs and non branch level as they have no branches mostly IT

Citibank 15 jobs

Regions 12 jobs 

Truist is too much to look for as they dont have one website for both banks 

 

Speaking of Citi, the rumor is they are turning Charlotte into a Legal, Compliance/Risk, Audit hub. I think I have said that before, but the jobs are showing it. 

Also Moody's is up to 300 employees in the area and looking to get into office space in SouthEnd. 

[KJHburg]

Moodys is also in Wework uptown so they and MUFG Union Bank both need more permanent homes I would think.  Both were small announcements and not incentivized by city or state to come here but did so due to our labor forces.  

[King of the Queen City]

REGIONAL WORLD CLASS CITY

[KJHburg]

^^^ that's fine as NY based operations continue to expand here instead of in the Empire State like Moody's, MUFG Union Bank, Better Mortgage and yes even Citibank etc.  

[Clemson16]

6 hours ago, KJHburg said:

^^^ that's fine as NY based operations continue to expand here instead of in the Empire State like Moody's, MUFG Union Bank, Better Mortgage and yes even Citibank etc.  

MUFG Union Bank has over 400 Charlotte employees, per my source.

[KJHburg]

4 hours ago, Clemson16 said:

MUFG Union Bank has over 400 Charlotte employees, per my source.

and they are looking for at least 100 more 

ask your source if they are talking about a new office somewhere 

In other banking news T bank Truist is working greatly along its consolidation and reducing its footprint by 4.8 M sq ft across its footprint.  I heard they have even moved out of the old BB&T Center in downtown Winston their former HQ for that half of the bank.  I expect Atlanta to be hit very hard as they consolidate.  

from the Biz Journal

Truist Financial exec talks consolidation work - Charlotte Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

[KJHburg]

1. Story about MUFG Union Bank the Japanese owned bank with no retail operations here but 400 employees and they are looking for 100 more.  

MUFG exceeds local hiring targets, looks to bring on more employees - Charlotte Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

"""I am excited to see Charlotte be the ... most innovative pioneering hub of MUFG's footprint. Charlotte will be the place where we try new processes and new activities, and it's going to be the teams that really stretch us," Teague said.""

 

2. In an article about Rhode Island based Citizens Bank which has 140 person office here and again no retail operations.

""Rhode Island-based Citizens is supporting Black Girls CODE's plans to set up virtual groups to teach coding and other skills to young women of color. The project is targeting four cities — Charlotte, Boston, Phoenix and Providence, Rhode Island.  Lamont Young, head of digital banking at Citizens, said the team selected Charlotte as one of the cities because it is a talent acquisition and technology hub for the bank. It employs more than 140 people here.""

Citizens Bank, Black Girls CODE partner on virtual clubs to teach tech skills here - Charlotte Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

Edited March 19, 2021 by KJHburg

[Blue_Devil]

40 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

1. Story about MUFG Union Bank the Japanese owned bank with no retail operations here but 400 employees and they are looking for 100 more.  

MUFG exceeds local hiring targets, looks to bring on more employees - Charlotte Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

"""I am excited to see Charlotte be the ... most innovative pioneering hub of MUFG's footprint. Charlotte will be the place where we try new processes and new activities, and it's going to be the teams that really stretch us," Teague said.""

 

2. In an article about Rhode Island based Citizens Bank which has 140 person office here and again no retail operations.

""Rhode Island-based Citizens is supporting Black Girls CODE's plans to set up virtual groups to teach coding and other skills to young women of color. The project is targeting four cities — Charlotte, Boston, Phoenix and Providence, Rhode Island.  Lamont Young, head of digital banking at Citizens, said the team selected Charlotte as one of the cities because it is a talent acquisition and technology hub for the bank. It employs more than 140 people here.""

Citizens Bank, Black Girls CODE partner on virtual clubs to teach tech skills here - Charlotte Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

Are we MUFG's North American HQ? If not, we might end up being so soon. 

 

Edit: Never Realized they were Union Bank. NVM... Hopefully we become a full scale hub though. 

Edited March 20, 2021 by Blue_Devil

[KJHburg]

MUFG:  I was looking into this bank a bit more. Did not realize it is LARGER than any US bank and the 5th largest bank on the planet and they own 21% of Morgan Stanley the largest shareholder.

15 Largest Banks In The World By Total Assets | 2021 Edition - RankRed

they have a modest HQ in Tokyo and that tells me they are looking to save costs.  With their large ownership share of Morgan Stanley maybe they convince them to move 100s or 1000s of jobs to Charlotte to save money from NYC.    Interesting note when they bought their 21% interest in MS in 2008 they wrote a physical check (no wires as the banks in the US were closed that day for Columbus Day) for $9 BILLION , the reputed largest physical check in history.   Please 2 forms of ID  with this check.

anyway this MUFG is big deal and I can see this operation really growing here at the expense of more expensive US locations like California and NYC where they have operations.  The bank's roots go back to 1656. 

I can't wait to see a MUFG logo on a tower!   99 jobs posted today here in the Queen City.    The Asia flight I think Charlotte will get first will be to Tokyo, not any Chinese city due the number of travelers and companies already in the Carolinas.  

Edited March 28, 2021 by KJHburg

[BarrenLucidity]

MUFG is enormous but salaries are lower than almost everyone else in Charlotte from what I hear. They've got a substantial operation in PHX so maybe they're testing the market with similar salaries.  Still is a great move for CLT. 

[RugbyPike#11]

I have not heard about the salaries, but I'm not shocked to hear they're on the lower side.  One of the worst risk management executives I've ever had the displeasure of working with is a managing director for them out of the west coast.  MUFG received some pretty horrendous advice a few years ago.  When they had enforcement issues over economic sanctions violations and antimoney laundering laws with the New York Department of Financial Services , they switched their New York branches (and branches in a few other states) from state charters to a federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) charter.  They thought by doing so, their enforcement actions with NY DFS would just go away.  When NY DFS didn't just go away, MUFG sued THEM (lol)! And then settled with NYDFS a couple years later.  Around the same time as the settlement, the OCC gave them a Cease and Desist enforcement action (that is a severe finding of violations, and the enforcement action specifically mentions the issues previously identified by NY DFS).  Charlotte and NYC are probably the best markets for AML and economic sanctions talent by a fairly wide margin, so no surprise to see MUFG fishing for talent here.   I've previously seen postings for their broader enterprise risk management function as well (based on OCC enforcement priorities, I'm guessing MUFG has a less severe non-public enforcement action for enterprise risk and compliance management).   They have a lot of postings for technology and commercial banking postings, and Charlotte has a deep talent pool in those niches as well.

[atl2clt]

 

 

[CLT2014]

38 minutes ago, atl2clt said:

 

 

I think New York City is more likely than Charlotte. Of the 17 people on the operating committee, 10 (59%) are based in New York City, 2 are in Charlotte, and then there is 1 each in San Francisco, Dallas, Chicago, Portland, and DC. The power of the company is very tilted to NYC now and it will seem odd to make an HQ announcement shift to a city like Charlotte that only has 2 senior leaders. They really have two options. Keep the SF hq in "name only" for history reasons / legacy or make an announcement that NYC is the HQ to align with reality.

What would be weird is: "Press Release: We're moving the HQ in name to Charlotte, but everybody running the company is staying in New York because we don't want to live there." 
The media will start asking questions again about why the CEO doesn't live in the HQ city, especially if they make an announcement about it. He clearly wants to live in New York and wants the operating team there around him. Several of the former-SF based execs like Amanda Norton made the move to NYC (probably to keep their job / relevance).

Edited April 21, 2021 by CLT2014

[CLT704]

^As much as I would love to see WF HQ'd here, their center of power has seemed to gravitate to NYC over recent years and I would expect Hudson Yards to be the HQ if WF ever left San Fran. 

 

CLT2014 posted something at the same time as me that sums it up exactly! 

Edited April 21, 2021 by CLT704

[KJHburg]

My occasional quick job opening search (and no I am not looking for a job love my jobs now)  This just tells me whos hiring and growing and who is not.  

Bank of America 328 open jobs in Charlotte.  Wells 400, US Bank 102 jobs, MUFG 92 jobs, Moodys 78 jobs out of 481 worldwide! and Centene 201

I would watch for MUFG and Moodys to anchor a building in the future along with US Bank 

MUFG is in Wework as I think Moodys is as well.    There are 2 anchors for buildings somewhere. 

and 74 open jobs with Vanguard in town.    

[KJHburg]

In Ally Bank news they now employ 2100 people here in Charlotte 500 more than their "HQ" of Detroit and have hired 550 people in the last year here in Charlotte! 

Ally Financial becoming a bigger presence in Charlotte - Charlotte Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

Financial sector employs 109,000 people in Charlotte area 9% of the workforce.  

[SydneyCarton]

The only reason that Ally is headquartered in Detroit is because of its historic relationship with GM.  I wonder if GM is still a large shareholder.  

Despite its ties to GM, the QC seems like a better place for its HQ than Detroit, a place where no one wants to live.

Edited April 23, 2021 by SydneyCarton