Allissa Kline is a Buffalo, New York-based reporter who writes about national and regional banks and commercial and retail banking trends. She joined American Banker in 2020 and previously worked for more than a decade at Buffalo Business First, where she covered banking and finance, insurance and accounting. Kline started her journalism career at the Observer-Dispatch in Utica, New York. She graduated from Colgate University and the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.
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CEO Thomas Cangemi is pushing to modernize a bank that for decades was focused largely on multifamily lending. The company has already agreed to buy the mortgage lender Flagstar Bancorp and its partnership with Figure Technologies, a blockchain-focused fintech, has the potential to make that acquisition more productive.
August 18 -
Fears of widespread credit losses have largely subsided, but demand for new commercial real estate loans remains lackluster because many companies are sitting on so much cash they don’t need to borrow. Meanwhile, competition from private equity groups and other nonbank lenders is escalating.
June 14 -
In a pandemic-scarred year, boards and compensation committees at 60 large and regional banks relied less on the normal performance metrics and more on qualitative criteria to determine bonus payments.
May 21 -
Like the fintechs SoFi and LendingClub, DLP Real Estate Capital is acquiring a community bank largely to lower the cost of funding loans.
March 18 -
First Foundation is relocating its corporate headquarters to Dallas, where the tax burden is lighter and it sees more opportunity to beef up lending, add wealth management clients and pursue acquisitions of community banks.
February 5 -
The company is exploring a range of options to diversify its balance sheet, but new CEO Thomas Cangemi says the best plan of attack is to merge with or acquire another institution.
January 27 -
Loan originations hit a record $16.7 billion in the fourth quarter, though executives caution that a recent rise in mortgage rates could slow refinancing activity.
January 14 -
Commercial real estate portfolios have held up better than expected during the pandemic. But rising delinquencies and fears of a delayed economic recovery are renewing questions about credit quality.
January 12 -
The multifamily lender named Michael Levine as board chairman, succeeding Dominick Ciampa, who held the role for 10 years. The move comes less than a week after longtime CEO Joseph Ficalora abruptly retired and was replaced by Thomas Cangemi.
January 6 -
The switch to Thomas Cangemi from longtime CEO Joseph Ficalora could foreshadow a push to curtail the company’s reliance on multifamily lending and the pursuit of a bank acquisition that lowers funding costs.
December 29
