BankTown Banking & Finance News

[DownEast]

On 9/17/2021 at 9:14 AM, navigator319 said:

^ that's way out of context for todays market.  Can get space in 1 WTC for in the $60's per sqft along with the rest of downtown NYC.  The midtown 'premium' is now 120-150 top of line.  

Alas. Consensus. 

[atl2clt]

Following up on the conversation earlier today at the UP Meetup, I think Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) is slowly developing a presence here in Charlotte. 

On May 20, 2021, Bloomberg released the following article: UBS Loses Nine TMT Investment Bankers to SVB. The first person mentioned in that article is Bob Casey, who is a Senior Managing Director in Tech Investment Banking located here in Charlotte. Bob's LinkedIn was just updated as having filled the role at SVB in August 2021.

LinkedIn results suggest that there are only two SVB employees currently in Charlotte (with Bob being one of them). That number, I imagine, will certainly grow—though I'm not sure by how much. I would be surprised to have a Senior Managing Director setting up camp in Charlotte without any a presence of analysts, associates, VPs, etc. SVB will be an interesting group to track over the next few years. 

[KJHburg]

9 hours ago, atl2clt said:

Following up on the conversation earlier today at the UP Meetup, I think Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) is slowly developing a presence here in Charlotte. 

On May 20, 2021, Bloomberg released the following article: UBS Loses Nine TMT Investment Bankers to SVB. The first person mentioned in that article is Bob Casey, who is a Senior Managing Director in Tech Investment Banking located here in Charlotte. Bob's LinkedIn was just updated as having filled the role at SVB in August 2021.

LinkedIn results suggest that there are only two SVB employees currently in Charlotte (with Bob being one of them). That number, I imagine, will certainly grow—though I'm not sure by how much. I would be surprised to have a Senior Managing Director setting up camp in Charlotte without any a presence of analysts, associates, VPs, etc. SVB will be an interesting group to track over the next few years. 

You are correct.  the no office in Charlotte Silcon Valley Bank is looking for 59 people here in Charlotte.  Another bank looking to build out an office here.  Closest SVB location is in Raleigh.  59 job postings here in Charlotte some cross posted with other locations. 

Work Life at SVB| Silicon Valley Bank

Check out their job postings for Charlotte and given their other large job centers seem to be San Fran or Santa Clara (which unless they pay their bankers the mega bucks I can see that as problmatic given cost of living)  looks like they have a major office in Tempe (Phoenix) too.  

Anyway looks like a buildup of SVB here in the 2nd largest banking center in the country and by far the most affordable. 

Edited September 19, 2021 by KJHburg

[SydneyCarton]

[videtur quam contuor]

After being in the midst of Atherton/South End Saturday afternoon and the throngs of 20 somethings everywhere I could see, I wonder how many of those come here unbanked or under-banked? Under-banked meaning they have had only a minimal bank relationship for cards and basic services. Not just that group of coming affluent young people. but others of their cohort in other neighborhoods and cities. 

In other words, what is the proportion and type of new business that comes from this age cohort? How far does it drive the enlargement of bank operations in our region?

Average annual net migration of age 25-34=8,000+ from 2012 to 2017 (Slide 7)

https://www.mecknc.gov/CountyManagersOffice/SPE/Community Pulse Reports/2020 Mecklenburg County Community Pulse Report.pdf

[KJHburg]

according to the Business NC morning update Ally Bank has added 550 jobs in Charlotte last year!  Plus look how many open positions they have. 

Ally Bank adds 550 Charlotte staffers in past year
(Charlotte Observer)

 

Detroit-based Ally bases many of its top execs in Charlotte. It has more than 350 open positions in the Queen City, many related to the company’s efforts to boost its software development as it improves it technology. Deposits at the online banking company totaled $142 billion in June.

[SydneyCarton]

11 hours ago, KJHburg said:

according to the Business NC morning update Ally Bank has added 550 jobs in Charlotte last year!  Plus look how many open positions they have. 

Ally Bank adds 550 Charlotte staffers in past year
(Charlotte Observer)

 

Detroit-based Ally bases many of its top execs in Charlotte. It has more than 350 open positions in the Queen City, many related to the company’s efforts to boost its software development as it improves it technology. Deposits at the online banking company totaled $142 billion in June.

Despite Ally's ties to GM, and, therefore, to Detroit, I think it's a matter of time before it moves its HQ to the QC.   The choice between Detroit and Charlotte is pretty easy.

[Clemson16]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wsj.com/amp/articles/u-s-bancorp-to-buy-mufg-union-bank-for-about-8-billion-11632222366
 

US Bank to acquire MUFG Union Bank. One less fish in the sea looking for Charlotte office space?

[CLT2014]

19 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

Despite Ally's ties to GM, and, therefore, to Detroit, I think it's a matter of time before it moves its HQ to the QC.   The choice between Detroit and Charlotte is pretty easy.

Charlotte is a nice corporate hub for Ally to recruit for IT, corporate support positions, and deposits, but the two most important revenue generating divisions of Ally are still largely based in Detroit. Auto and Insurance generate 87% of pre-tax income. The executives for those two divisions are based in Detroit and their teams are based there (as well as job openings in those groups). The leadership team isn't going to hurt morale for the people responsible for 87% of the company's income by moving the HQ to the corporate support site for overhead roles.

Edited September 21, 2021 by CLT2014

[KJHburg]

9 minutes ago, Clemson16 said:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wsj.com/amp/articles/u-s-bancorp-to-buy-mufg-union-bank-for-about-8-billion-11632222366
 

US Bank to acquire MUFG Union Bank. One less fish in the sea looking for Charlotte office space?

I think this could mean more space consolidation here in Charlotte.  MUFG is operating out of Wework space so any space they lease with US Bank or on their own is newly occupied space.  Maybe they will join forces and anchor a new tower in Charlotte which is what I think will happen.  I would speculate Legacy or the Riverside project on S Tryon. 

[CLT2014]

27 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

I think this could mean more space consolidation here in Charlotte.  MUFG is operating out of Wework space so any space they lease with US Bank or on their own is newly occupied space.  Maybe they will join forces and anchor a new tower in Charlotte which is what I think will happen.  I would speculate Legacy or the Riverside project on S Tryon. 

MUFG recruiting is going to be rough in this interim phase. 124 job openings in Charlotte.... but who knows how many will be eliminated when the merger closes. MUFG jobs in Charlotte have tended to be in technology, but I expect much of the US Bank infrastructure will win out as the larger bank and we may see a down-sizing for a bit in Charlotte. US Bank's press release went even so far to say that US Bank will be able to bring their superior technology to Union Bank customers. Given US Bank is fully merging Union Bank into the US Bank brand, corporate layoffs will likely come a bit faster than the Truist merger where they have been maintaining both brands / products for a long time until they launch the new brand. 

Does anybody know how many of the MUFG Americas roles here are in Global Corporate and Investment Banking (which is not being sold to US Bank)?

The other indirect language to expect layoffs (especially at MUFG corporate roles):
"Following the closing of the transaction, U.S. Bank is committed to retaining all of MUFG Union Bank’s front-line branch employees. These bankers are frequently the first people customers and prospective customers speak to. They have demonstrated a tremendous ability to serve MUFG Union Bank’s customers, and U.S. Bank looks forward to having these branch employees join the bank’s team of talented West Coast employees. 
For MUFG Union Bank employees, joining a regional bank with increased scale and a larger U.S. geographic footprint will allow for additional opportunities for advancement and ways in which they can build a banking career."
Translation of last statement: Your duplicative non-front line role will be eliminated... so plan to apply for job openings within the company. Such an exciting opportunity.....

Edited September 21, 2021 by CLT2014

[atlrvr]

I've been under the impression that nothing in Charlotte is impacted by this.  Union Bank is a regional bank based on L.A., with their major operations center in Phoenix and Tempe.

Charlotte jobs, at least to my understanding, support MUFG Americas, which is based in NYC, and is the corporate banking arm of MUFG.  

I think a greater risk is that MUFG decides to exit commercial banking in the US, which would impact all the jobs in Charlotte, and maybe selling off the retail bank subsidiary suggests they are trying to reduce US exposure overall.  

In short, I don't believe there are any employees of MUFG Union Bank NA in Charlotte (though I could be wrong).

[CLT2014]

1 hour ago, atlrvr said:

I've been under the impression that nothing in Charlotte is impacted by this.  Union Bank is a regional bank based on L.A., with their major operations center in Phoenix and Tempe.

Charlotte jobs, at least to my understanding, support MUFG Americas, which is based in NYC, and is the corporate banking arm of MUFG.  

I think a greater risk is that MUFG decides to exit commercial banking in the US, which would impact all the jobs in Charlotte, and maybe selling off the retail bank subsidiary suggests they are trying to reduce US exposure overall.  

In short, I don't believe there are any employees of MUFG Union Bank NA in Charlotte (though I could be wrong).

I think the thing that makes everything confusing is there is lots of overlap between MUFG Americas and MUFG Union Bank. Most of the corporate support roles in IT, Risk, Audit, et... don't work for MUFG Union, but for MUFG Americas.... however their day job is doing an audit of MUFG Union Bank. Essentially the way the company is structured is Revenue producing employees of MUFG Union like Sales, Bankers, Customer Service, et. work for the MUFG Union Bank division whereas all overhead roles are centralized under MUFG Americas, despite their day job supporting Union Bank. You can't get a job as an Auditor, Compliance associate, finance associate, et... for MUFG Union since your role is at the holding company level. This makes it hard to track how many of the MUFG Americas roles here are directly tied to the existence of MUFG Union Bank... though the number of cross-postings with Tempe office may help.

The Union Bank leadership team is essentially the same as MUFG Americas.... because the Holding Company is largely made up of Union Bank. 

Edited September 21, 2021 by CLT2014

[joenc]

3 hours ago, CLT2014 said:

Charlotte is a nice corporate hub for Ally to recruit for IT, corporate support positions, and deposits, but the two most important revenue generating divisions of Ally are still largely based in Detroit. Auto and Insurance generate 87% of pre-tax income. The executives for those two divisions are based in Detroit and their teams are based there (as well as job openings in those groups). The leadership team isn't going to hurt morale for the people responsible for 87% of the company's income by moving the HQ to the corporate support site for overhead roles.

Is their digital bank based here?

That's probably more valuable on the market than auto lending.

[RANYC]

Charlotte touts that it's the 2nd largest banking center in the US, but has anyone done or come across an analysis on deal-making/rev-generating/front-office institutional banking jobs?  That is, the traders, investment banking, corporate banking, wealth management heads and teams.

I imagine Charlotte has some of that but what might the list of top banking cities look like from that vantage point - we know NYC is on top.  Second would be San Fran? Chicago?  Boston?  Or perhaps still Charlotte?

Edited September 21, 2021 by RANYC

[Rufus]

4 minutes ago, RANYC said:

Charlotte touts that it's the 2nd largest banking center in the world, but has anyone done or come across an analysis on deal-making/rev-generating/front-office institutional banking jobs?  That is, the traders, investment banking, corporate banking, wealth management heads and teams.

I imagine Charlotte has some of that but what might the list of top banking cities look like from that vantage point - we know NYC is on top.  Second would be San Fran? Chicago?  Boston?  Or perhaps still Charlotte?

Yea, so the difference is that they use the term "BANKING" instead of "FINANCIAL," which offers only a very narrow definition compared to finance which would include not only retail banking but investment banking and stock trading. While not perfect, the Global Financial Centres index has NYC at #1 clearly, and then San Francisco, LA, DC, Chicago, and Boston rounding out the top 5 for the US. I'm a bit surprised by LA, but everything else makes sense considering the financial industries in each city. 

[RANYC]

2 minutes ago, Rufus said:

Yea, so the difference is that they use the term "BANKING" instead of "FINANCIAL," which offers only a very narrow definition compared to finance which would include not only retail banking but investment banking and stock trading. While not perfect, the Global Financial Centres index has NYC at #1 clearly, and then San Francisco, LA, DC, Chicago, and Boston rounding out the top 5 for the US. I'm a bit surprised by LA, but everything else makes sense considering the financial industries in each city. 

Thank you.

Yes, surprised to see LA and not any sort of Texas presence.

[Norm2]

I knew that Charlotte was the 2nd largest banking center in the United States. Never heard the claim before that it is the 2nd largest banking center in the world. 

[CLT2014]

The "largest banking center" in the USA rankings is based on assets of banks headquartered in a city..... The top 4 banks in the country have the same amount of combined assets as the top 5 - 100 banks combined. Essentially any city that has Chase, BofA, Wells, or Citi as a headquarters is automatically a Top 4 banking city.... so really the ranking for Charlotte is just based on how big Bank of America is at the moment.... right now they are #2.... so Charlotte is #2. We sink or swim based on BofA on that ranking. 

Truist is a nice little bonus to have.... but they are only 18% the size of BofA by assets.

Edited September 21, 2021 by CLT2014

[kermit]

On 9/21/2021 at 11:47 AM, RANYC said:

Charlotte touts that it's the 2nd largest banking center in the world, but has anyone done or come across an analysis on deal-making/rev-generating/front-office institutional banking jobs?  That is, the traders, investment banking, corporate banking, wealth management heads and teams.

I imagine Charlotte has some of that but what might the list of top banking cities look like from that vantage point - we know NYC is on top.  Second would be San Fran? Chicago?  Boston?  Or perhaps still Charlotte?

I am not an insider, but the local lore about this goes something like this (please correct as appropriate):

• BoA and Wachovia / First Union were almost exclusively consumer banks during their early years
• In the mid 1990s BoA decided they wanted to expand its investment banking activities. They struggled to recruit IB folks from NYC and SF due to Charlotte's staid image. They found some success in recruiting mid-level IB folks who either had families or were approaching retirement. In the course of trying to recruit IB folks to Charlotte they learned that the biggest knock on IB jobs in New York was that everyone had to be in windowless trading rooms, usually in basements -- so BoA built their trading floor in the Hurst tower with the wall of windows to aid in their recruiting of traders to Charlotte.
• When the sub-prime crises of 2008 rolled around, BoA was much less damaged than the larger investment banks. Some folks said that BoA's conservatism protected them, others said it was due to the relatively small size of their IB activities. Regardless the cause, Ken Lewis f'ed BoA's stability  all up with his purchase of Country Wide (super-duper stupid) and Merrill Lynch (somewhat less stupid for the corporation but not so great for Charlotte). Several articles were written which suggested Lewis was (partly) driven by an urge to 'save the US financial system from collapse'.  If he had just passed on the Countrywide purchase Charlotte would be.....
• BoA's purchase of Merrill was the end of substantial IB activities in Charlotte. A few token efforts were made to move some Merrill folks to Charlotte, but it was quickly realized that was a futile effort. IIRC activity on in the Hurst trading floor was wound-down after the Merrill purchase. Brian Monihan (Ken Lewis' replacement) didn't see much need to make big corporate investments in Charlotte.
• Wachovia was building a large trading floor in their new HQ building (now the Power Tower) at the same time. But Wachovia expired before the building was completed.  There have been a few posts here over the past decade about Well's starting up IB activity on that trading floor, but I don't believe it ever happened for various corporate reasons (and I don't think IB activities are a big part of the Wells culture).

Just after the sub-prime crises it was recognized that substantial trading activities in Charlotte were going to be tough to sustain due to the consumption preferences of the workforce (they had lots of $$$ to spend and they did not feel like Charlotte was a fun place to spend it). Exacerbating Charlotte's difficulties was relatively poor international air connections to Europe (# of flights per day being the main concern) in comparison to New York and Boston.

tldr: Charlotte is a great place for retail / consumer banking, but it has not been well suited for investment banking in the past. Having said that I do see some signs that this activity may be about to ramp up again locally…

Edited September 22, 2021 by kermit

[RANYC]

1 hour ago, norm21499 said:

I knew that Charlotte was the 2nd largest banking center in the United States. Never heard the claim before that it is the 2nd largest banking center in the world. 

Typo.  Yes, strictly a US-focused consideration of rankings.

[atlrvr]

It's easy to measure bank activity, because of the regulated nature of those companies, and lots of  "apples" to "apples" metrics.  2nd largest banking refers to HQ of firms based on deposits (as reported by FDIC).  Doesn't matter if that deposit was from farmer in Nebraska,  mom and/or pop in Fort Mill, SC,  or  XYZ corp based in NYC, if those deposits are at BofA, then Charlotte gets the benefit in ranking.  

To contradict myself, that's not necessarily a measure of activity, rather a harmonized way of measuring.

You need to ask what you're actually trying to measure though:

Here's an example:

TIAA was the 2nd largest investor in commercial real estate debt the last few years.  TIAA is HQ in NYC, but the investments are by Nuveen Real Estate (a subsidiary of Nuveen).  Nuveen is HQ in Chicago.  The CEO of Nuveen lives/works in Charlotte.  The head of Nuveen Real Estate lives/works in Charlotte.  The head of debt within Nuveen Real Estate lives/work in Charlotte.

^^^ Does that mean the activity of that asset manager for the  2nd largest CRE debt investor is ascribed to NYC?  Chicago?  Charlotte?

Same with Barings who is 9th largest.  Parent company is MassMutual in Springfield, MA.  Barings is HQ in Charlotte.  Until recently, the Head of Real Estate was in Hartford, CT.    Is that financial activity for Springfield, Charlotte, Hartford?

To add to that.....

Now that companies are going hybrid remote, people can be wherever they want.  Two members of Blackrock's Fixed Income investment committee work remotely here in Charlotte (1 was hired years ago and didn't want to move to NYC, the other moved to Charlotte somewhat recently).  These funds where they are lead Portfolio Managers are both $10's of Billions (with co-PM's on those funds that sit in NYC).  Is a chunk of Blackrock activity based in Charlotte?  

Anyway....there's not a simple answer.

[atlrvr]

2 hours ago, kermit said:

I am not an insider, but the local lore about this goes something like this (please correct as appropriate):

• BoA and Wachovia / First Union were almost exclusively consumer banks during their early years
• In the mid 1990s BoA decided they wanted to expand its investment banking activities. They struggled to recruit IB folks from NYC and SF due to Charlotte's staid image. They found some success in recruiting mid-level IB folks who either had families or were approaching retirement. In the course of trying to recruit IB folks to Charlotte they learned that the biggest knock on IB jobs in New York was that everyone had to be in windowless trading rooms, usually in basements -- so BoA built their trading floor in the Hurst tower with the wall of windows to aid in their recruiting of traders to Charlotte.
• When the sub-prime crises of 2008 rolled around, BoA was much less damaged than the larger investment banks. Some folks said that BoA's conservatism protected them, others said it was due to the relatively small size of their IB activities. Regardless the cause, Ken Lewis f'ed BoA's stability  all up with his purchase of Country Wide (super-duper stupid) and Merrill Lynch (somewhat less stupid for the corporation but not so great for Charlotte). Several articles were written which suggested Lewis was (partly) driven by an urge to 'save the US financial system from collapse'.  If he had just passed on the Countrywide purchase Charlotte would be.....
• BoA's purchase of Merrill was the end of substantial IB activities in Charlotte. A few token efforts were made to move some Merrill folks to Charlotte, but it was quickly realized that was a futile effort. IIRC activity on in the Hurst trading floor was wound-down after the Merrill purchase. Brian Monihan (Ken Lewis' replacement) didn't see much need to make big corporate investments in Charlotte.
• Wachovia was building a large trading floor in their new HQ building (now the Power Tower) at the same time. But Wachovia expired before the building was completed.  There have been a few posts here over the past decade about Well's starting up IB activity on that trading floor, but I don't believe it ever happened for various corporate reasons (and I don't think IB activities are a big part of the Wells culture).

Just after the sub-prime crises it was recognized that substantial trading activities in Charlotte were going to be tough to sustain due to the consumption preferences of the workforce (they had lots of $$$ to spend and they did not feel like Charlotte was a fun place to spend it). Exacerbating Charlotte's difficulties was relatively poor international air connections to Europe (# of flights per day being the main concern) in comparison to New York and Boston.

tldr: Charlotte is a great place for retail / consumer banking, but it has not been well suited for investment banking in the past and I don't see any local firms eager to ramp it up again in the future.

A couple of points on this:

Wells Fargo has fully occupied the Wachovia trading floor here in Charlotte.   The majority of their bond trading happens out of Charlotte, and the have a LARGE preference to hire people in Charlotte vs NY.  Equity trading is really extinct except equity derivative sales.  That is mostly NY.  As far as Investment Banking (M&A, equity and debt underwriting, etc) that's pretty evenly split between NY and Charlotte.   Wells is quite large in Investment Banking, but it's position lies somewhere between the "smallest Bulge Bracket" (i.e. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, BofA ML, JPMorgan, etc) and "largest Regional" (Truist, US Bank, PNC, etc)

Charlotte at one point in time (1980's-90's) had one of the "best" middle-market Investment Bank's in the country.  Bowles, Hollowell, Conner.   First Union bought that (and Wachovia had bought Interstate Johnson Lane), and by the time Wachovia was formed, they were relevant.  By the time the financial crises hit, Wachovia was the largest issuer of structured products (bigger than Goldman, Lehman, Bears Sterns, etc)  They actually didn't blow up from that directly (though it hurt), but their own purchase of a California lender,  Golden West Financial, really did them in. 

As far as investment banking in Charlotte currently.  BofA ML still has some teams in Charlotte, but much much smaller scale than pre-ML.  Wells as I noted above is considerable.  US Bank, Truist, Regions, and Fifth Third all have largest or second largest investment banking hubs respectively within their brands here for both Trading and M&A type roles.

[KJHburg]

the view from San Fran on the US Bank purchase of MUFG Union Bank. 

U.S. Bank’s $8 billion cash-and-stock purchase of MUFG Union Bank’s core retail banking operations reshapes the Bay Area banking landscape.  The company, now the nation’s fifth-largest bank, will significantly raise its profile in the region and across the state and will find itself going head-to-head against banking’s big three — Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Chase, which collectively hold about half of the deposits in California.

U.S. Bank will hold 7.3% of the state’s deposits after the deal, with the Minneapolis bank picking up Union Bank’s $90 billion of deposits in the acquisition. That boosts U.S. Bank’s market share from No. 10 in California to No. 5.  Union Bank has about 300 branches, many of them in California, Oregon and Washington state. MUFG Union Bank's main office is in San Francisco. U.S. Bank is paying MUFG Union Bank parent Mitusubishi UFJ Financial Group $5.5 billion and about 44 million shares of stock (NYSE: USB). The Japanese bank will own about 2.9% of U.S. Bank after the deal.

“The Bay Area is a big opportunity,” said Thomas Roberts, U.S. Bank’s San Francisco-based region executive vice president overseeing the Bay Area and Pacific Northwest. “I’ve been here for 30 years, since I started in San Jose as a teller. It’s a vibrant community and one that’s very, very important to us.” 

U.S. Bank’s to-do list in the Union Bank deal will include dealing with a consent order that MUFG Union Bank entered into on Monday with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency over the bank’s information security and operational risk controls.  The deal announced Tuesday won mostly applause from banking analysts.

“The deposits are of high value, with 40% being noninterest-bearing deposits,” said David Konrad, an analyst with KBW, a Stifel company. Those deposits support Union Bank’s $58 billion loan portfolio that consists of mortgages, 42%; commercial real estate, 31%; commercial and industrial, 19%; and consumer, 8%.

“The build-out of its California franchise will give U.S. Bank greater economies of scale,” Gerard Cassidy, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets, told clients Tuesday.

“We believe the acquisition of MUFG Union Bank will provide U.S. Bank with the ability to better serve customers of both organizations, as U.S. Bank continues to invest in innovative technology and expand its branch network in attractive growth markets on the West Coast,” Cassidy said.

U.S. Bank plans to achieve $900 million in pretax cost savings, equal to 40% of Union Bank’s estimated noninterest expense, by consolidating real estate, technology and systems and other back-office efficiencies, Cassidy said.

The principal naysayer on the deal was Dick Bove, a Florida-based banking analyst with Odeon Capital Group. Bove points out that California’s population is growing slower than the national average, based on 2020 Census data that show the Golden State growing at 6.1% vs. 7.4% nationally in the last decade. In the last three months of 2020, the state had a net loss of 100,000 residents, Bove said.  “U.S. Bancorp describes the state as a large and growing banking opportunity,” Bove said. “More information is needed as to why the bank has come to this conclusion.”  

“The ‘high touch’ banks are losing share to the ‘high tech’  bankers within banking,” Bove said.  “Why U.S. Bancorp wants to spend $8 billion to acquire a troubled low-tech bank without obtaining its best corporate and capital markets customers is highly questionable.”

U.S. Bank’s Union Bank buy gets mixed reviews: ‘California is not the Mecca that it once was’ - San Francisco Business Times (bizjournals.com)

what this all means for Charlotte who knows?  But I know this MUFG Union Bank and US Bank have grown here and like the talent pool available here.  

[KJHburg]

More on the US Bank MUFG merger and how it affects or doesn't affect Charlotte.

From the Biz Journal today

""MUFG is also building a middle- and back-office presence in Charlotte. It opened an office just over two years ago at 615 South College in uptown, establishing an eastern U.S. hub and creating hundreds of jobs. The office houses technology, engineering, data and risk management operations.  "MUFG will continue to have a presence in Charlotte, and it will remain an important hub for our Operations & Technology groups as well as other select disciplines. We look forward to continuing to take advantage of the region’s talented labor pool that is skilled in financial services, innovation and modernization; strong economic status; and position at the forefront of customer-centric technologies and related services," an MUFG spokesperson said via email, when asked whether the U.S. Bank deal would affect Charlotte operations.""

U.S. Bancorp will buy MUFG Union Bank for $8B to expand on West Coast - Charlotte Business Journal (bizjournals.com)