Amtrak mulls cutting BofA card; Coinbase buying Israeli crypto security firm

TOP NEWS IN BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES

* Transportation company National Railroad Passenger Corp., doing business as Amtrak, is mulling cutting its co-branded credit card with Bank of America Corp., Bloomberg News reported, citing people privy to the matter. The partnership, which began in 2015, has roughly $100 million in balances, one of the people told the news outlet.

* Coinbase Global Inc. is acquiring Israel-based Unbound Security, a pioneer in cryptographic security technologies, the Delaware cryptocurrency company announced in a blog on its website. The acquisition, which is expected to close in the coming months, will give Coinbase a presence in Israel, one of the world's technology hubs.

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BANKING

* In-state peers Legacy Bank and InBankshares Corp inked a deal that will merge Legacy Bank into InBankshares unit InBank in a stock-and-cash transaction worth about $56.0 million overall. The merger is expected to close early in the second quarter of 2022, with a systems conversion planned for the late third quarter of 2022.

* Showing Hong Kong's importance as a major financial hub and following the discovery of the COVID-19 omicron variant, big U.S. banks Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are set to reimburse up to about $5,000 in quarantine expenses for employees who return from a personal trip to the region, where COVID-19 controls are among the strictest on the planet.

* Citigroup Inc. has picked Union Bank of the Philippines' bid to buy the U.S. banking giant's retail banking business in the Southeast Asian country, Bloomberg reported, citing sources. As it divests its consumer banking businesses to focus on its wealth franchise, Citigroup has received bids from major Philippine banks, including Bank of the Philippine Islands, BDO Unibank Inc. and Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co.

FINANCIAL SERVICES

* Morgan Stanley has put its head of U.S. equity syndicate desk, Pawan Passi, on leave, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. No information, other than the bank is looking into Passi's actions, was immediately available, the people told the news outlet.

* The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. partnered with Amazon Web Services Inc. to launch cloud-based data services for hedge funds and assets managers, CNBC reported. The partnership was unveiled Nov. 30 at the AWS re:Invent conference in Las Vegas, according to the report.

* HighTower Holding LLC is making a strategic investment in Clear Perspective Advisors LLC, a $700 million wealth management firm with offices in Aurora and St. Charles, Ill.

* Newly formed Montreal-based hedge fund Nordis Capital, which will invest solely in companies with positive environmental, social and governance policies, plans to launch with C$34 million, or roughly $26.6 million, and raise C$100 million within the next year, Bloomberg reported, citing Chief Investment Officer Francois Bourdon.

* Marc Demane Debih, a former Geneva-based trader who admitted to a central role in an international insider trading scheme and had helped U.S. prosecutors take down the racket, was sued in federal court in New York by the U.S. SEC for allegedly pocketing at least $49 million from the illegal activity, Bloomberg reported, citing the court filing.

* Share prices of Federal National Mortgage Association and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. on Nov. 30 closed higher after the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced that the U.S. government can back up to $970,800 for each housing unit mortgaged in 2022. The FHFA raised the conforming loan limit for one-unit properties to $647,200 for 2022 from $548,250 in 2021.

POLICY AND REGULATION

* President Joe Biden is considering, among other candidates, Richard Cordray, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's first director, to succeed Randal Quarles as the Federal Reserve's vice chairman of banking supervision, The Wall Street Journal reported, quoting Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown, D.-Ohio.

* The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is considering whether or not it will cover stablecoin arrangements, FDIC Chairman Jelena McWilliams said during a quarterly bank profile press conference Nov. 30.

* Trade groups including the American Bankers Association, the Credit Union National Association, the National Bankers Association and the Electronic Transactions Association urged senators to include a safe harbor for cannabis banking in an upcoming military spending package, American Banker reported, citing a letter addressed to Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; Pat Toomey, R-Pa.; Jack Reed D-R.I.; and James Inhofe, R-Okla.

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