Western Alliance’s chief legal officer, Randall Theisen, is postponing his move to a newly created role as head of corporate affairs by three months “given the market dynamics” in the banking space, the bank’s general counsel, Jessica Jarvi, said in an email last week to Bloomberg Law.
Theisen was set to step down as legal chief — with Jarvi taking up the role — in the first quarter of 2023, the bank said in a statement in September.
As head of corporate affairs, Theisen would oversee Western Alliance’s corporate communications, marketing, government relations and community relations functions.
As it stands, Theisen is performing both roles, according to the bank’s website and a recent proxy filing.
Phoenix, Arizona-based Western Alliance has been one of the most closely watched — and seen as one of the most at-risk — regional banks since the failures of Signature, Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic prompted a crisis of confidence among investors.
The $65 billion-asset bank issued a statement this month refuting a Financial Times report claiming the bank engaged outside counsel from Sullivan & Cromwell to explore options including a sale.
“There is no truth to this,” Stephanie Whitlow, Western Alliance’s chief marketing officer, told Bloomberg following the report.
The bank told the wire service it neither hired an adviser nor considered options for sale, but that it was “considering all of our legal options in response to the story.”
Since First Republic failed, Western Alliance has issued two updates on its deposit strength. The first, dated May 3, disclosed that deposits had increased to $48.8 billion from $48.2 billion, on the day after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. sold First Republic to JPMorgan Chase. More than 74% of Western Alliance’s total deposits are insured, the bank said. That percentage increases to 88% for the bank’s 20 largest depositors, Western Alliance added.
The bank’s total deposits rose to $49.4 billion as of last Tuesday — a $1.8 billion increase from March 31, the bank said, adding that insured deposits jumped to 79%.
Western Alliance had not “experienced unusual deposit flows following the sale of First Republic Bank and other recent industry news,” it said.
Theisen joined Western Alliance in 2006, and has roughly 40 years of experience representing financial institutions in banking, corporate and financial services law, according to the bank.
Jarvi joined in 2007 as a senior vice president and became deputy general counsel in 2013, overseeing the bank’s legal function and spearheading the company’s Community Reinvestment Act; environmental, social and governance initiatives and and executive-led diversity and inclusion efforts.
