Women in Banking

Morais, who leads the auto lender's consumer and commercial banking divisions, is preparing to leave as Ally Financial conducts a search for its next chief executive officer. She had been seen as a potential candidate to replace outgoing CEO Jeffrey Brown.

With tight inventory and rising rates posing challenges to today's home buyers, mortgage lenders face a tricky environment for maintaining volumes. National Mortgage News chats with three of the top-ranked producers of 2022 to discuss strategies to stay competitive in the months ahead.

Hafize Gaye Erkan, whose surprise departure from First Republic Bank disrupted the lender’s succession plans earlier this year, will become chief executive officer of Greystone as the closely held commercial-property lender expands into wealth management and private banking.

Johnson, who currently heads a housing-finance industry group, will take over this summer from longtime president and CEO Richard Hunt.

As risk management becomes a major driver for banks, we discuss how to approach these questions in a different way

The company will leverage its diversified consumer-finance model while optimizing a traditional mortgage business with thinner margins as the business cycle turns, CEO Patti Cook said.

The Trump-appointed head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Jelena McWilliams, said she plans to leave the agency in early February. The announcement comes weeks after Democratic appointees making up a majority of the board had threatened her leadership by acting on policy related to bank mergers without her consent.

HUD official Alanna McCargo takes over the top job at the government corporation, which has had a series of acting leaders since 2017.

Chryssa Halley, who has been with the company since 2006, was named CFO and Jim Holmberg was named controller.

The regional banks are moving past old-school collection calls, instead using emails, texts and on-screen messages to urge delinquent customers to repay debt. Modern communications are said to be more efficient and in keeping with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau debt-collection rules set to take effect Nov. 30.

GOP opposition and a packed Senate agenda have delayed the vote on Julia Gordon as head of the Federal Housing Administration. But industry representatives say that with FHA delinquency rates still elevated and loan forbearance plans expiring, there's an urgency for Congress to confirm her by year-end.

Mary Mack testified last week about the cultural problems she encountered after joining the bank's consumer unit in 2016. Recalling small group meetings she held with employees, she said: "People would stand up, and they were fearful."

Janet Yellen was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the country's 78th Treasury secretary and the first woman to hold the job, putting her in charge of overseeing an economy that continues to be hobbled by the coronavirus pandemic.

The incoming administration chose a battle-tested policymaker who can draw on her nearly two decades at the Fed to help rebuild an economy still struggling from the coronavirus pandemic.

The Trump administration has compelled the Federal Reserve to shut down the Main Street Lending Program and other facilities that aid banks’ pandemic relief efforts, but President-elect Biden’s Treasury nominee could help turn the spigot back on.

JPMorgan Chase is going on the “offensive” in mortgages as home prices rise across the country, said Marianne Lake, the bank’s chief executive for consumer lending.

When Jane Fraser takes the reins of Citigroup in February, she will have to tackle the company’s cards slump, lagging performance metrics and challenges presented by employees’ return to the office.

Jane Fraser, a longtime Citigroup executive, will be the first female CEO of a major Wall Street bank. She succeeds Michael Corbat, who had held the post for eight years.

Dana Wade, a former OMB official, says a strong capital footing will help the Federal Housing Administration weather an uptick in delinquencies and ensure the mortgage market is viable once the economy recovers.