Latest news with #CitizensBank
National Post
12 hours ago
- Business
- National Post
Backblaze Further Strengthens Financial Position With New Credit Facility
Article content SAN MATEO, Calif. — Backblaze, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLZE), the cloud storage innovator providing a modern alternative to traditional cloud providers, today announced the successful closing of a senior secured revolving credit facility in an aggregate principal amount of up to $20.0 million (the 'Credit Facility'), of which an aggregate amount of up to $3.0 million will be available through a letter of credit sub facility, with Citizens Bank, N.A. ('Citizens'). Backblaze enters into the agreement with a strong liquidity profile, including more than $50 million in cash and marketable securities as of March 31, 2025. Article content 'Coupled with our recent $37.5 million oversubscribed equity offering in November 2024, this new credit facility with Citizens further strengthens our financial flexibility and provides us with improved liquidity at a more competitive cost of capital. It positions us well to execute on our strategic priorities and support the company's long-term growth. We are excited to partner with Citizens as our new banking partner,' said Marc Suidan, CFO of Backblaze. Article content The new Credit Facility provides for borrowing capacity at an interest rate based upon the Company's choice of an adjusted Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) plus an applicable margin of 3.25%, or an alternate base rate plus an applicable margin of 2.25%. The term of the loan is initially set at 2 years, with a one year extension. The Credit Facility includes customary representations, warranties, and covenants, including financial covenants, and customary closing and administrative fees. Article content About Backblaze Article content Backblaze is the cloud storage innovator providing a modern alternative to traditional cloud providers. We deliver high-performance, secure cloud object storage that customers use to develop applications, manage media, secure backups, build AI workflows, protect from ransomware, and more. Backblaze helps businesses break free from the walled gardens that traditional providers lock customers into, enabling them to use their data in open cloud workflows with the providers they prefer at a fraction of the cost. Headquartered in San Mateo, CA, Backblaze (NASDAQ: BLZE) was founded in 2007 and serves over 500,000 customers in 175 countries around the world. For more information, please go to Article content About Citizens Financial Group, Inc. Article content Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is one of the nation's oldest and largest financial institutions, with $220.1 billion in assets as of March 31, 2025. Headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, Citizens offers a broad range of retail and commercial banking products and services to individuals, small businesses, middle-market companies, large corporations and institutions. Citizens helps its customers reach their potential by listening to them and by understanding their needs in order to offer tailored advice, ideas and solutions. In Consumer Banking, Citizens provides an integrated experience that includes mobile and online banking, a full-service customer contact center and the convenience of approximately 3,100 ATMs and approximately 1,000 branches in 14 states and the District of Columbia. Consumer Banking products and services include a full range of banking, lending, savings, wealth management and small business offerings. In Commercial Banking, Citizens offers a broad complement of financial products and solutions, including lending and leasing, deposit and treasury management services, foreign exchange, interest rate and commodity risk management solutions, as well as loan syndication, corporate finance, merger and acquisition, and debt and equity capital markets capabilities. More information is available at or visit us on X, LinkedIn or Facebook. Article content Article content Article content Article content Article content Contacts
Bloomberg
a day ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Citizens CEO: Worst of Tariff Pain is Behind Us
Citizens CEO Bruce Van Saun says businesses are adjusting to President Trump's tariffs. He joined Wall Street Beat on Bloomberg Open Interest to talk about the strength of the financial sector and how the US consumer is holding up. (Source: Bloomberg)
New York Times
17-05-2025
- Business
- New York Times
His Life Savings Were Mailed to Him by Paper Check. Now, It's Gone.
Q: Last year, I lost my entire 401(k) — $114,000 — after Paychex mailed me physical rollover checks instead of doing a secure transfer. The checks were intercepted and fraudulently cashed. I'm now in federal court trying to hold Paychex accountable, but this experience has made it painfully clear how little protection exists for consumers in situations like mine. For some reason, this outdated and insecure method remains standard practice in the retirement industry. This is a tale of fraud, responsibility and process. Let's take them in order. First comes fraud. The interceptor and casher whom Mr. Handy refers to is a thief still on the loose. In 2023, Mr. Handy changed jobs and was trying to move his 401(k) money from his old workplace plan to his new one. Paychex, which helped manage his old plan, arranged for him to get two checks in the mail — one for his 401(k) and one for a Roth version. Then, he was supposed to send the checks on to his new plan administrator with a rollover form. He did that, or so he thought. In fact, a thief somehow took the checks. That thief (or those thieves) took one check to Citizens Bank and another to Chase and successfully cashed or deposited them. That was the fraud. Who took responsibility? Not Paychex, not yet at least. According to Mr. Handy, Paychex took months to conduct an investigation that led nowhere. He eventually went to Citizens, which arranged for a refund of the $14,000 or so that had been in his Roth 401(k). Chase, however, did not help him, and directed him to Paychex's bank. PNC didn't help, either, which Mr. Handy understood to be Paychex's bank. Last year, Mr. Handy sued Paychex. Why Paychex? 'Paychex is the entity that wrote the check, so Paychex has to be the one that goes to get the money back,' said Jonathan Corbett, Mr. Handy's lawyer. It is not clear whether Paychex has tried to do that and, if so, how hard. No one from the company would comment. In a court filing, it tried to wipe its hands of the matter, claiming that it had no fiduciary responsibility to Mr. Handy and that he had taken possession of the checks before the thief stole them. But here's the thing about its overall process: In a world absolutely awash with check fraud, what was Paychex doing pushing paper checks in the first place? If 'chex' is in your name and you're not a breakfast cereal, paper checks might be a matter of branding consistency. But there are other considerations, and Paychex isn't the only one that has to weigh various options. A retirement company called Capitalize reported last year that 43 percent of people who responded to its survey had to use paper checks during their rollover processes. Yes, electronic transmission from an old 401(k) provider to a new one is possible. But in some instances, zapping money through the ether doesn't allow for some important information about the money to tag along. The Internal Revenue Service has an interest in every single rollover. It doesn't want people sneaking money out of retirement accounts without paying taxes or penalties that are due, and it wants the new company holding the money to know what type of retirement account it is. Without knowing the type, nobody can tell the I.R.S. later on what taxes to collect, if any, or tell the participant what he or she may owe. And guess what. With paper checks, you can just put words on them that help explain or signal what kind of account the money came from and where it's supposed to end up. So 401(k) companies may offer both options — electronic (with some kind of additional feature or process to make sure the correct tax information travels with the money) and paper checks. But come on! It's 2025. Would it be that complicated to write some software to attach the pertinent information to each electronic transfer of someone's retirement accounts? Perhaps not. But without guidance from the Treasury Department, few companies (and, especially, their lawyers) want to take the chance of doing it wrong and ending up in hot water. The I.R.S. is supposed to provide more clarity soon, and the major players in the 401(k) industry can't wait. I imagine Paychex can't wait, either; stories like this one are a turnoff for companies considering its offerings. That said, Mr. Handy, who was 33 when he asked for the rollover two years ago, believes Paychex could have done a lot more to prevent this situation. He said no one at Paychex had ever told him that an electronic transfer was possible, though he found out later that he could have moved his money that way. He had also never done a rollover before. And while the thought did occur to him that using paper checks was a bit risky, he figured that he should do what he was told: Wait for the checks to come in the mail and then transfer them to the new provider. And another thing: Why isn't Paychex sending six-figure checks by FedEx or certified mail? Mr. Handy now wishes he had sent the money on to his new 401(k) provider that way. Again, he was following instructions, or at least mimicking the experts. He treated the checks that he was sending to his new retirement fund company the same way Paychex had, by putting them in the normal mail. So what are we to learn here? It may seem intuitive to avoid paper and go electronic if at all possible, but there appear to be no industrywide data showing that rollover fraud happens more often with paper checks. Maybe checks are actually safer, and Mr. Handy's bad luck is a fluke. After all, thieves can find ways to impersonate or manipulate you and steal your retirement funds in paperless fashion. Still, anyone doing a rollover — of any sort — should be hypervigilant. Watch your accounts each day for any electronic transactions you initiate, and speak up if they're not happening on schedule. If you're using paper checks, demand the most secure possible mailing process. And if you're managing retirement plans for your colleagues — even former ones — make sure they know about all of their rollover options and are aware of Mr. Handy's paper check nightmare. Not every one of our 'How Did This Happen?' tales will have a happy ending. Paychex has not reunited Mr. Handy with his money. Neither has Chase, even though Citizens did arrange for reimbursement. A Chase spokesman said that PNC should have come to it bank-to-bank to request the money and that Chase had no record of PNC's having done so. Paychex could presumably order PNC to make the approach, but it doesn't appear to have tried. Mr. Handy went to PNC at one point, but it told him that he needed to take it up with Paychex. Mr. Handy has another problem now: He may owe the I.R.S. money because a thief cashed his retirement money out early. If that comes to pass, he does not intend to send the agency a check.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Upshur Leadership graduating class holds Community Skills Share event
BUCKHANNON, (WBOY) — A Community Skills Share event was brought to the Upshur Parish House for the first time on Wednesday. This event was put on by Leadership Upshur Class of 2025, a cohort that Parish House Executive Director Isaac Casto belongs to. Casto said that at the Upshur Parish House, they thought that this event would be a 'really cool opportunity.' He added that he thinks there's a lot of skills and knowledge out in the community, and they were looking for a way to pull all of that together. 'We were happy to be involved,' Casto stated. 'That's what our mission is here, is to work together as neighbors, and we thought that [this event] really aligned with our mission.' Ribbon-cutting held for Lewis-Upshur Community Recovery Center The event had a representative from Citizens Bank stop by to speak with attendees about how the banking system works. Casto stated that the representative went over things such as checking and savings accounts, as well as mortgages and loan applications. There was another panelist who spoke to the community about foraging for food. To go along with this portion of the event, the Upshur Parish House had stations set up for attendees to make salads and lavender lemonade. In addition to that, a photographer stopped by during the event to speak on photography basics and how to edit photos. 'What we were excited about is we really see this as a way to network and community-build,' said Casto. According to Casto, the Upshur Parish House is often concerned with issues such as food insecurity, housing instability, and similar community needs. 'So these sorts of things help our neighbors connect with one another, those maybe needing help, and those that just wanna be involved,' he added. Casto said that he personally felt that this event was a great opportunity for community-building, and the Upshur Parish House is excited to continue moving in that direction. He added that hopefully, they can make this an annual event, so don't worry too much if you missed it this year. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Q1 2025 Perella Weinberg Partners Earnings Call
Taylor Reinhardt; Head of Communications and Marketing; Perella Weinberg Partners Andrew Bednar; Chief Executive Officer, Director; Perella Weinberg Partners Alexandra Gottschalk; Chief Financial Officer; Perella Weinberg Partners Devin Ryan; Analyst; Citizens Bank Brendan O'Brien; Analyst; Wolfe Research James Yaro; Analyst; Goldman Sachs Operator Good morning, and welcome to the Perella Weinberg Partners first quarter 2025 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Taylor Reinhardt, Head of Communications and Marketing. You may begin. Taylor Reinhardt Thank you, operator, and welcome all. Joining me today are Andrew Bednar, Chief Executive Officer; and Alex Gottschalk, Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, I'd like to note that this call may contain forward-looking statements, including Perella Weinberg's expectations of future financial and business performance and conditions and industry outlook. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements and are not guarantees of future events or performance. Please refer to Perella Weinberg's most recent SEC filings for a discussion of certain of these risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements are based on our current beliefs and expectations, and the firm undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. During the call, there will also be a discussion of some metrics, which are non-GAAP financial measures, which management believes are relevant in assessing the financial performance of the business. Perella Weinberg has reconciled these items to the most comparable GAAP measures in the press release filed with today's Form 8-K, which can be found on the company's website. I will now turn the call over to Andrew Bednar to discuss our results. Andrew Bednar Thank you, Taylor, and good morning. Today, we reported first quarter revenues of $212 million, up more than 100% year over year and representing the highest first quarter revenue in our history. Our results were up across the firm with revenue in the US and in Europe, up twofold driven by larger fees per transaction, which resulted from our continued focus on client coverage and business selection. Policy action from the US government at the start of April and related reactions have not stopped deal announcements, but have slowed them down. Our clients are in an adjustment stage and are awaiting clarity on ultimate tariff and trade policy. Once the range of uncertainty narrows, we expect transaction activity to accelerate as we experienced in both '08 and '09 and COVID periods. Unlike these prior market dislocations, however, we have not seen clients today broadly terminating processes or walking away from deals just pausing, which is encouraging. Our client engagement dashboard stats, which include new business reviews, client calls and requests for meetings are at all-time highs, and our pipeline is very strong. Our announced and pending backlog, however, has declined from record levels. In the current fog, we see two bright spots. First, our restructuring liability management and financing advisory business experienced a meaningful uptick in demand from the start of April. And second, recruiting, where in the first quarter, we added a Managing Director focused on transportation, leasing and logistics, and we have a health care partner, a software partner, a Managing Director in financials, and a Managing Director in Industrial, slated to join us in the coming months. Disruption creates opportunity. This is a time to showcase the strength of our firm and lean into growth initiatives. Our client-centric model allows us to quickly pivot our resources to deliver the services our clients need from advising on their most transformative strategic initiatives to their most pressing financial needs. Our client relationships are measured by a lifetime and not by a transaction time line and it's in times like these that we gain and solidified their trust. Our brand and our team are stronger than ever and we are exceptionally well positioned. I remain very confident in our long-term prospects. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Alex to review our financial results and capital management in more detail. Alexandra Gottschalk Thank you, Andrew. Our revenues of $212 million included $23 million related to closings that occurred within the first few days of the second quarter, in which in accordance with relevant accounting principles, were recorded in the first quarter. Our adjusted compensation margin was 67% of revenues and in line with our full year 2024 accrual. The compensation margin was set based on assumptions at the end of the quarter and may be adjusted as business conditions and investment decisions progress in the coming months and through year-end. Our adjusted non-compensation expense of $49 million for the quarter included more than $10 million of litigation-related costs, which was the primary driver of the year over year and quarter over quarter increases. Our prior guidance of a single-digit increase in non-comp expense for the full year 2025 remains our best estimate at this time. Shifting to taxes. Our adjusted if converted effective tax rate for the first quarter reflects the tax benefit resulting from stock compensation awards vesting at a higher price than granted. Excluding this impact, the adjusted tax rate would have been 29.5%, in line with our tax rate expectation for the remainder of the year. Turning to capital management. In the first quarter, we returned $121 million to equity holders, including over $14 million in open market repurchases and nearly $29 million related to unit exchanges. We will continue to deploy capital for open market buybacks as opportunities arise in addition to repurchases in connection with ordinary course RSU vestings and quarterly unit exchanges with a continued focus on proactively managing our share count. At the end of the first quarter, we had 62 million shares of Class A common stock and 26 million partnership units outstanding. We ended the quarter with $111 million in cash and no debt. This morning, we declared a quarterly dividend of $0.07 per share. With that, operator, please open the line for questions. Operator (Operator Instructions) Devin Ryan, Citizens Bank. Devin Ryan Hello? Andrew Bednar Yeah, we can hear you now. Devin Ryan Sorry about that. I think my phone cut for a second. The question on the M&A environment. Obviously, a lot of uncertainty right now. I'm just curious how much of -- maybe the recent slowdown is because companies are changing plans because their business outlook is more uncertain, so maybe they're less interested in buying an asset or selling their business versus simply market conditions are volatile. And so when market conditions settle down that should reignite activity that's maybe sitting on the sideline. Andrew Bednar Yeah. Thanks for the question, Devin. As I said in the upfront remarks, broadly across the firm in the M&A business, we see clients pausing and not terminating. And so I think we have clearly a slowdown in announcements. You can see that across the board in the sector as well as for power business, but not a slowdown in the interest in M&A. And I think this is just a natural moment with the volatility, as you mentioned. And I think an increasing range of uncertainty, we always have uncertainty, but I think the range of uncertainty here is particularly broad at this moment. And so when you're driving in the fog, I think it's a natural instant to tap the brakes and that's what we see. I do think because there is not a slowdown in the interest in M&A that once you get some clarity -- some more clarity, I don't think you get complete clarity, but once you get more clarity, there's I think an opportunity to be able to transact again and plan again and then we'll see, I think, a pretty sharp response to more clarity from the policy actions. So we're anticipating this to look a bit more like coming out of COVID than slogging through the sort of March '22 time frame? Devin Ryan Great. And a follow-up on the non-M&A businesses. Can you give us any sense of percentage of contribution in the quarter? And then for restructuring specifically, your team seems like they're doing quite well there. And I'm curious if you can frame kind of how much the productivity improvements are a function of just the environment being more active versus perhaps the firm gaining market share and how you feel about just more broadly market share in that business? Andrew Bednar Yeah. We feel great about the broad liability management business. I think our team is doing a terrific job. I think the brand is gaining a lot of traction in that marketplace. We've been building that now for many, many years, and you tend to get the benefits of compounding, which we're seeing now. I think the market is quite conducive to the broad liability management service when you have these periods of volatility and moments where capital markets are quite challenging, you tend to seek help. And so that's a very good driver of our business. We don't break out the elements of our revenue, as you know, Devin, so I won't go to the -- answering that question. But as you know, we're a very client-centric model. And when our clients need more than their strategic help that they need help in connection with financings or in connection with balance sheet management, we quickly mobilized our team to address client needs. So that business has done very well. We continue to see strength coming into the year, and we saw a real pickup beginning during the volatility. In April, we saw an even further increase in the business in that month. Operator Brendan O'Brien, Wolfe Research. Brendan O'Brien I heard the comments that 1Q you saw pretty balanced growth US and Europe. But we've been hearing a lot more positive on the M&A backdrop in Europe relative to US of late. So I just want to get a sense of how (technical difficulty) and whether you're seeing relative -- Andrew Bednar Sorry, Brendan, I'm not hearing that very well. I'm not sure operator, if we can help his line. Operator Please stand by. I'll see if I can turn the volume up here some. Andrew Bednar Brendan, do you want to try again? Brendan O'Brien Yeah. Can you hear me now, sorry? Andrew Bednar Yeah, that's perfect. Brendan O'Brien Okay. Great. Sorry about that. Yeah. So I was just asking on activity in Europe relative to the US. I heard that you saw pretty balanced trends across both regions in 1Q, but there's been a little bit more positivity on the outlook for Europe. So I just want to get a sense as to whether you're seeing any bifurcation in trends there. Andrew Bednar Yeah, we're seeing Europe much more unified in the wake of the policy actions here since the April time frame. And we see a greater willingness to think about broad regional transactions and a more accommodative regulatory backdrop in Europe. So I think all of those are encouraging. I think much like the US markets, however, particularly in the last 30 days or so, I mean everybody is sort of paused and taking a step back. And again, waiting for a bit more clarity, doesn't need to be absolute clarity, but I think a little bit more clarity on where this tariff policy and broad trade relations are going to fall out. I think we'll start to see, again, a falling of what I think is a thin layer of ice, not a deep freeze, but a thin layer of ice here that will fall both in the US and in Europe. But we do like the backdrop for Europe, and we think it's trending very well and appears to be a better trending than what we saw in the last two years. Brendan O'Brien That's helpful color. And for my follow-up, I just wanted to touch on recruiting. Last year, you spoke about plans or hopes to see an acceleration hiring this year. And obviously, it sounds like you've gotten out to a good start. But while the preference is obviously for a stronger revenue backdrop, I would imagine that the current volatility and slowdown in M&A could also result in a better recruiting environment for you. So I just want to get a sense as to what you're seeing in the recruiting backdrop today and get an update on your expectations for the full year. Andrew Bednar Yeah, you're exactly right. This is a bit of the yin and yang of the business when you tend to have moments of less activity or slower announcement activity, in particular tends to lead to an acceleration in hiring opportunities. So we're always at the plate and ready to take swings at pitches that we're going to be given on recruiting. We are constantly adding talent. In this environment, we're going to see some more talent. We're not going to change our criteria, but we are seeing more talent. And as I said on the third quarter call, I think last year, we did want to accelerate our hiring for 2025 irrespective of market. And I think that market has moved more our way than when we started the year, given again the slower announcement cadence here makes it a bit easier for people to think about a job change. So that's helpful on the recruiting front. Operator James Yaro, Goldman Sachs. James Yaro On the 67% cap ratio you put up for the quarter, could you just give us a little more clarity on what sort of backdrop you baked into the ratio and then how you're thinking about the ability to make further progress on the comp ratio for this year and beyond? Andrew Bednar Yeah. Alex, do you want to go ahead and take that? Alexandra Gottschalk Yeah, sure. Thanks, James. Look, so the 67% comp ratio really reflects our best estimate at the end of the quarter and continues to reflect our best estimate at this point in time. Obviously, as the year progresses and we measure our performance, and we have better visibility on our pace of recruiting that could adjust. We're still early in the year. And I think we've demonstrated that we've provided leverage in our comp ratio and continue committed to doing that. James Yaro Okay. Non-comps rose 33% year on year in the quarter. Could you just break out how much of the non-comps were from the litigation this quarter that you highlighted, and I assume it's onetime in nature. And then could you just update us on your full year non-comp guidance relative to the single-digit year-on-year number you gave previously? Alexandra Gottschalk Sure, James. Yeah, I think I mentioned in my upfront remarks, that litigation spend, which was directly related to the trial, which has concluded was over $11 million in the quarter. So that is definitely seasonal and not something that we expect to occur in the balance of the quarters for the year. And that single-digit increase that we indicated on the last call, it still remains our best estimate for the year, the year over year increase in non-comp. Operator This concludes the Q&A portion of today's call. I would now like to turn the call back over to Andrew Bednar for any additional or closing remarks. Andrew Bednar Okay. Thank you, operator, and thank you, everyone, for your interest in our firm and for your continued support. I also want to take a moment just to thank the 700 professionals, all my colleagues at Perella Weinberg for their tireless commitment to our mission and their unwavering dedication to our clients whenever and wherever they need us. I look forward to speaking with all of you in a few months, and thank you again for joining today. Operator This concludes the Perella Weinberg Partners first quarter 2025 earnings call and webcast. You may disconnect your line at this time and have. Sign in to access your portfolio
