Metropolitan Commercial Bank Crypto

Metropolitan Commercial Bank crypto

Metropolitan Commercial Bank says the firm will terminate its crypto-related offerings for clients.

The bank was one of the first to jump into the nascent digital asset market.

The firm cited changes in the regulatory environment as part of its decision.

Metropolitan Commercial Bank is close to exiting completely from the cryptocurrency market, with only $278.5 million in crypto-related deposits left, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from April 18.

“Our previously announced exit from the crypto-related vertical is almost complete,” the filing states, noting that its total core deposits, excluding crypto clients, were $4.9 billion on March 31.

The New York-based banks parent company, Metropolitan Bank Holding (MBH), announced in January that it was terminating crypto-related services after recent developments in the industry and regulatory pressure. The decision came shortly after the former crypto exchange FTX collapsed. Its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, is facing multiple fraud charges.

Metropolitan Bank served four crypto clients, which accounted for around 1.5% of its total revenue, or around $1 million, and 6% of its total deposits which amounted to $342 million, according to the firms Q3 2022 results.

U.S. banks have been cautious about serving the crypto industry after the spectacular collapse of three of the most prominent banks - Silvergate Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, and Signature Bank.

Another bank - Provident Bancorp - blamed the crypto winter as the primary cause of the recent banking crisis. “Over the past few months the country has witnessed a chain of events that shook the foundations of the banking industry,” wrote co-CEO Joe Reilly and Carol Houle in a shareholder's letter dated April 18. “These events came on the heels of a cryptocurrency downturn that affected many businesses, including some that we supported through our digital asset lending initiatives,” they wrote.

This recent crisis has also left many crypto-related companies unbanked, with several firms trying to move their banks offshore. Meanwhile, some of the domestic banks, including BNY Mellon, which are still servicing crypto-related clients, said they are taking a slower approach to taking on newer digital asset-exposed clients.

MCB stock news

Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. (NYSE: MCB) is the parent company of Metropolitan Commercial Bank (the “Bank”), a New York City-based full-service commercial bank. The Bank provides a broad range of business, commercial, and personal banking products and services to individuals, small businesses, private and public middle-market and corporate enterprises and institutions, municipalities, and local government entities.

Metropolitan Commercial Bank was named one of Newsweek‘s Best Regional Banks and Credit Unions 2024. The Bank was ranked by Independent Community Bankers of America among the top ten successful loan producers for 2023 by loan category and asset size for commercial banks with more than $1 billion in assets. The Bank finished ninth in S&P Global Market Intelligence’s annual ranking of the best-performing community banks with assets between $3 billion and $10 billion for 2022 and eighth among top-performing community banks in the Northeast region for 2022. Kroll affirmed a BBB+ (investment grade) deposit rating on January 25, 2024.

The Bank is a New York State chartered commercial bank, a member of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and an equal housing lender.

Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. Reports First Quarter 2024 Results

Total deposits on March 31, 2024, were $6.2 billion, an increase of $500.3 million from December 31, 2023 and an increase of $1.1 billion from March 31, 2023.

Net interest margin expanded 4 basis points to 3.40% for the first quarter of 2024 compared to 3.36% for the fourth quarter of 2023.

Loans on March 31, 2024, were $5.7 billion, an increase of $94.4 million from December 31, 2023 and $867.5 million from March 31, 2023.

Diluted earnings per share of $1.46 for the first quarter of 2024, an increase of 14.1% compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, inclusive of $4.9 million of expenses in the first quarter of 2024 related to the Global Payments Group (“GPG”) wind down, regulatory remediation, and the core banking digital transformation.

Return on average equity of 9.8% and return on average tangible common equity(1) of 9.9% for the first quarter of 2024.

Asset quality continues to be stable and a source of strength.

Liquidity remains strong. At March 31, 2024, cash on deposit with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and available secured funding capacity totaled $3.4 billion, which was 222% of uninsured deposit balances.

The Company and Bank are “well capitalized” across all measures of regulatory capital, with total risk-based capital ratios of 12.9% and 12.6%, respectively, as of March 31, 2024, well above regulatory minimums.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. (the “Company”) (NYSE: MCB), the holding company for Metropolitan Commercial Bank (the “Bank”), reported net income of $16.2 million, or $1.46 per diluted common share, for the first quarter of 2024 compared to $14.6 million, or $1.28 per diluted common share, for the fourth quarter of 2023, and $25.1 million, or $2.25 per diluted common share, for the first quarter of 2023.

Mark DeFazio, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented,

“As the only true mid-sized commercial bank headquartered in NYC, we continue to deliver strong returns for our shareholders while simultaneously and diligently preparing the bank for the future. We are ready, willing, and able to support our clients with our strong capital position and outstanding liquidity, supported by a continued focus on risk management.”

MCB foris New York

Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. (NYSE: MCB), through its community bank subsidiary, Metropolitan Commercial Bank, provides a broad range of business, commercial, and personal banking products and services to small and middle-market businesses, public entities, and affluent individuals in the New York metropolitan area. Known as “The Entrepreneurial Bank,” shares the entrepreneurial spirit of clients. sharply focused on serving their needs while enhancing shareholder value by capitalizing on the growth opportunities of a dynamic marketplace.

The unique approach combines the high-touch service and relationship-based focus of a community bank with the extensive financial solutions offered by large competitors. Founded in 1999, the Bank is headquartered in New York City and operates six full-service banking centers, as well as online banking, mobile banking apps, and no-fee access to over 1 million ATMs worldwide. The Bank is also an active issuer of debit cards for third-party debit card programs and provides critical global payment infrastructure to its FinTech partners.

crypto scheme

Ontario‘s self-styled ’Crypto King, Aiden Pleterski, was arrested and accused of fraud and money laundering related to an alleged Ponzi scheme following one of the most extensive fraud investigations the region has witnessed.

The 25-year-old, along with his associate, 27-year-old Colin Murphy, allegedly stole approximately $30 million from unsuspecting victims.

Crypto Kings Arrest

The charges stem from a 16-month investigation known as ‘Project Swan’ conducted by Canadian authorities amidst an ongoing bankruptcy case related to the alleged scheme, which has garnered significant media attention in the country.

This investigation involved interviews with numerous victims, dozens of court orders, as well as thousands of pages of financial documents, according to officials.

The official press release stated,

Stephen Henkel of the Ontario Securities Commission noted that Pleterski was not registered with any Canadian securities regulator in any capacity. Authorities indicated that he may have been soliciting investors as recently as February 2024.

None of the allegations against Pleterski have been proven in court. Ontario authorities refrained from disclosing further details of their case, Pleterski was reportedly abducted, assaulted, and subjected to torture by five individuals claiming to be his victims last year.

According to court records, the five suspects were nabbed by Toronto police on charges of kidnapping for ransom and other offenses, including one individual who had invested money with Pleterski.

After being held captive for three days, Pleterski was released by his captors, but only after he was pressured to produce a sum of money urgently, as per court records. In a video obtained by CBC News, a visibly bruised and injured Pleterski was heard apologizing, expressing regret for any harm caused, with his lawyer confirming that the video was recorded during the kidnapping ordeal.

What is a Ponzi scheme？

A typical Ponzi scheme is a type of investment scam that promises high returns with little or no risk. People are usually enticed by clever marketing into making an investment, but there is a catch. The only people who usually profit from these schemes are a select few of early investors. That is because they receive funds obtained from more recent investors.

A Ponzi scheme will last until the point where not enough money is coming in. This depends on the size of the required investment because a small investment means that more people can participate and the scheme will last longer.

A pyramid scheme is similar, although there are slight technical differences between the two. Pyramids are so-called “get-rich-quick” businesses and they work on the basis of recruiting new members with a false promise of payment for enrolling new members, not for selling the product or delivering services. Both Ponzi and pyramid schemes are illegal. For the sake of the simplicity of this blog, we treat both as one and the same.

Cryptocurrencies vs Ponzi Schemes

The truth is that most people who invest in various Ponzi schemes will lose their money. When it comes to crypto, some people lose money as well, but for totally different reasons. This doesnt detract the naysayers from saying that everything crypto automatically equals a scam.

When people lose money with cryptocurrencies, it is a result of an unfortunate set of circumstances, human nature, and how markets work. Let me briefly explain.

Bitcoin and crypto went through many cycles of ups and downs. To understand bullish and bearish markets. One of the largest and latest “ups” took place at the tail end of 2017. It caused a frenzy of herd-like behavior from all types of people who suddenly developed a feverish interest in cryptocurrencies just because everyone was talking about it.

Everyone was throwing money into Bitcoin without much of a second thought as the price was rising so rapidly. The fear of missing out was very strong when seemingly easy gains were made possible by buying and selling almost any cryptocurrency.

The irony is that whenever people get excited about an investment is usually the exact time when it is already overpriced.

Whenever the price starts to decline as a natural result of market cycles, many people start selling at a loss, so the crypto world always has some unhappy customers who buy high and sell low — in theory, they do the exact opposite of the old wisdom of buying low and selling high. But this doesnt mean that they were deceived by a scam.

The catch here is that it is hard to determine if the price at any given time is high or low. When bitcoin was being traded at 15,000 EUR, people were still expecting it to go even higher. We now know that they were wrong, but the price could very well have reached higher numbers, in which case theyd be right.

Why we believe that Bitcoin is not a scam

With crypto, it is up to the individual investor to know when to take a profit, whereas with Ponzi schemes, it is already pre-determined who will lose money.

That is not to say that the history books of crypto dont contain some blatant scams (especially some of the ICOs from last year), but cryptocurrencies, by design, are not Ponzi schemes. Why？ First of all, there is a solid, transparent and innovative technology behind it. The blockchain and the currency called Bitcoin will not cease to exist only because someone made a bad decision about buying and selling it at a non-convenient time. More to that, with Bitcoin, there is no central team to be prosecuted and held responsible — it is a trustless and transparent network that relies on the random computers (nodes) in this network.

With Bitcoin, there is a very simple formula by which some people lose money and some people earn money, and it is all dictated by regular and healthy market fluctuations.

The main reason why people lose money with Ponzi schemes, on the other hand, is that they are purposefully deceived and — as a result — they don‘t know what they’re investing in and more importantly, how to invest and/or trade. Although you could draw a parallel with crypto where some people simply arent fit to make an educated decision about an investment, an important distinction has to be made by the fact that they are not purposefully deceived.

Cryptocurrencies are strongly backed by people who believe in technology and they will continue with support and development.

For example, I see a lot of value in blockchain technology, Bitcoin, and other cryptocurrencies. But remember that with any cryptocurrency, there is no guarantee of profit! That is why you should always be wary of investment opportunities where there is “a guaranteed profit”. Always do research.

The truth is that cryptocurrencies can be placed side by side with traditional stocks, commodities, and other instruments trading on the traditional stock markets. They can have different functions, utilities, and meanings, but at their core, they are always designed to run the network or be used by the network. There is no guaranteed profit from any of them as they were designed to be useful for something (payments, utilizing the network, etc.).

When you use crypto as a speculative means, make sure you know how the technology and the markets work before you put your money at stake.