Calabria's added role in Trump admin, Morais joins First Citizens

July 11, 2025 4:26 PM

In this week's banking news roundup: Dr. Mark Calabria takes on additional role as U.S. chief statistician; retired Ally Bank executive Diane Morais joins First Citizens Bancshares' board of directors; MainStreet Bank promotes Alex Vari to chief financial officer; and more.

Mark Calabria named to added job as U.S. chief statistician

Dr. Mark Calabria, associate director for Housing, Treasury, and Commerce at the Office of Management and Budget, has been given the additional job of chief statistician, joining the ranks of other Trump administration officials who hold multiple jobs.

"At least for a little while, a few extra responsibilities as Chief Statistician of the United States," Calabria wrote on X, where he posted a letter from OMB Director Russell Vought announcing his appointment on Thursday.

Calabria has been serving as a liaison between OMB and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The former chief economist to Vice President Mike Pence served in the first Trump administration as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and is an expert on housing policy. He is the author of, "Shelter from the Storm: How A COVID Mortgage Meltdown Was Averted." Before joining the second Trump administration, he was a senior advisor at the Cato Institute. —Kate Berry

Ex-Ally Bank executive Diane Morais joins First Citizens board

One year after retiring from Ally Financial, Diane "Di" Morais has taken a seat on First Citizens Bancshares' board of directors.

Morais, who most recently was Ally's president of consumer and commercial banking, joined the board on July 1, First Citizens said in a press release. She is serving on the joint risk committee and joint technology committee of First Citizens and its banking subsidiary, First Citizens Bank.

Morais appeared on American Banker's Most Powerful Women in Banking list for nine consecutive years. She was No. 7 on the list in 2023. She retired from Ally in 2024.

First Citizens Chairman and CEO Frank Holding Jr. described Morais in the press release as "a results-oriented executive with a customer-centric vision and leadership style."

Including Morais, Raleigh, North Carolina-based First Citizens now has 12 board directors. This past spring, the board shrank from 14 to 11 when three directors vacated their seats due to the company's director retirement policy. —Allissa Kline

MainStreet Bank names its next CFO

MainStreet Bank in Fairfax, Virginia, has promoted Alex Vari to the role of chief financial officer.

Vari was most recently MainStreet's chief accounting officer, a role he held for nearly six years, according to his LinkedIn profile. MainStreet Bank is the banking arm of MainStreet Bancshares.

Tom Chmelik will remain CFO of MainStreet Bancshares. The company has about $2.1 billion of assets and operates six branches in and around the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.

MainStreet Bancshares recently faced pressure from a high-profile investor who called for the sale of the company after executives terminated a four-year-old embedded banking venture. The advisory proposal failed to secure majority shareholder support at the bank's annual meeting in May.

In April, MainStreet Bancshares executives announced that the company would not be moving forward with its Avenu payment solution, instead returning to "core relationship banking." —Allissa Kline

C&I loan-focused Flagstar expands into new verticals

Flagstar Financial has grown its specialized industries group to 12 sectors as part of its plan to ramp up commercial-and-industrial lending, it announced in a press release.

The Hicksville, New York-based company now has bankers focused on subscription finance; technology, media and communications; entertainment; sports; power and renewables; oil and gas; and insurance. Other sectors in the group include sponsor finance, lender finance, franchise finance, health care finance and asset-based lending.

Flagstar's turnaround story is heavily reliant on making more C&I loans. It set a goal to hire 100 commercial bankers this year to support that effort, and it's aiming to increase C&I loans outstanding to at least $1 billion per quarter, or $1.5 billion once fully staffed.

The bankers who've been hired in recent months to lead the new industry verticals come from large and regional banks, including three that worked at City National Bank, which was acquired by Royal Bank of Canada. —Allissa Kline

WSFS promotes credit chief

WSFS Bank has promoted a new chief credit officer to oversee commercial, consumer and other loan exposures.

The Wilmington, Delaware-based company announced that Frank McGrane, who most recently served as WSFS's deputy chief credit officer, will assume the top role as current Credit Chief Liam Brickley retires.

McGrane will report to Chief Risk Officer Christine Davis. He's spent nearly four decades in middle market and corporate relationship management, portfolio management and credit risk administration. –Catherine Leffert

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City National appoints new commercial banking leadership

The Los Angeles subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada has tapped a new head of commercial and national corporate banking.

City National appointed Chris Edmonds to lead the bank's strategy for middle-market and large corporate growth in the U.S. Edmonds, who previously spent more than 16 years at California Bank and Trust, a subsidiary of Zions Bancorp, was most recently executive director of commercial banking.

Edmonds will be based in Los Angeles and report to Joe Yurosek, president of commercial banking at the $93 billion-asset City National.

RBC has been working to beef up City National's performance after a rocky few years, due to the bank's sensitivity to rising interest rates in 2022 and 2023. The company got new leadership at the end of 2023, as Toronto-based RBC works to integrate the U.S. unit more fully into the broader company. —Catherine Leffert

Flood waters left debris scattered in Kerrville, Texas, on July 5, 2025.

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ABA donates $10,000 to Texas flood relief efforts

In response to the catastrophic flooding in central Texas, the American Bankers Association is donating $10,000 to the Texas Bankers Foundation, the charitable arm of the Texas Bankers Association. The funds will assist with immediate disaster response and recovery.

"The need for support is urgent, and we are grateful to the Texas Bankers Foundation for stepping up and getting relief to those who need it most," ABA President and CEO Rob Nichols said in a press release.

The Texas Bankers Foundation made an initial $10,000 donation to the Kerrville-based Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country to help victims of the flooding along the Guadalupe River and surrounding communities. More support is forthcoming to other organizations.

Individuals, banks or groups can contribute directly on the Texas Bankers Foundation donation page. —Editorial Staff

Altadena, California - Bank of America - Feb. 1, 2025

The Eaton Fire destroyed much of Altadena, California, including Bank of America's branch on Lake Avenue.

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Bank of America gives $1 million to L.A. fire recovery

Bank of America has donated an additional $1 million to help Los Angeles rebuild after January's wildfires, the bank announced this week. The latest sum brings BofA's total contributions to the recovery effort to more than $3.5 million.

"From our immediate initial response to the fires in January to pivoting as needs change over time, our aim is to help all Angelenos recover," Raul Anaya, BofA's head of business banking, said in a statement.

The bank said its most recent donation went to local nonprofits providing housing, food, debris removal and legal and insurance assistance to families and businesses impacted by the disaster.

When the fires first struck, BofA lost two branches in Altadena and the Pacific Palisades. Since then, the bank has established a temporary mobile center in the area and has pledged to rebuild the two destroyed locations. —Nathan Place

Stephanie von Friedeburg takes reins of Citi’s public sector banking

Stephanie von Friedeburg has been appointed global head of public sector banking at Citi. She will succeed Julie Monaco, who is retiring after 18 years at Citi and 40 years in banking.

"Stephanie is a recognized leader in infrastructure and project finance, with nearly three decades of experience driving investment and innovation across complex emerging and developed markets," Jason Rekate and John Chirico, co-heads of corporate banking, said in a Monday press release.

Prior to joining Citi in 2023, Stephanie spent 30 years at the World Bank Group, last serving as chief operating officer at the International Finance Corporation.

During Julie Monaco's tenure at Citi, she built the bank's global public sector banking franchise into an industry leader, where her leadership defined how Citi engages with governments and development institutions around the world, Rekate and Chirico said in the release. —Traci Parks

UBS Japan Global Markets Co-Head Kuroda is exiting bank

UBS Group's Japan Global Markets Co-head Naohiro Kuroda is leaving the bank, people with knowledge of the matter said, months after the veteran of structured investments business touted his team's expansion.

Kuroda is stepping down from the Swiss lender's Tokyo-based investment banking subsidiary, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. UBS declined to comment. Kuroda didn't immediately reply to emailed requests for comment.

His team was in growth mode at the start of the year, hiring three salesmen to boost the business of selling high-yielding structured products to local financial firms. The move would help broaden the bank's client base in Japan, Kuroda said at the time.

UBS' Japan operations saw earnings grow last year even as global rivals posted lower profits after a bumper 2023.

Kuroda previously headed structured credit trading for the Asia-Pacific region at Credit Suisse, before it became a part of its bigger Swiss rival. He worked for Nomura Holdings before that. —Ambereen Choudhury and Takashi Nakamichi, Bloomberg News