A new role: Veteran banker Janet Olson has left her position as senior vice president in commercial banking at Capital One and today started a new job as Chase bank’s market executive in Baton Rouge. Olson is the new head of Chase’s commercial banking team which works with middle market companies that have revenues between $20 million and 500 million. In her new role, Olson also will lead Chase’s community outreach and philanthropy efforts as well as coordinate the brand’s commercial, small business, retail and private banking efforts. Olson’s hire comes a month after Robert Schneckenburger and Jeff Gould left their positions at Chase for new leadership roles at Whitney Bank. Schneckenburger was Chase’s local market president while Gould, served as a Chase’s long-time senior vice president.
By the numbers: BP, rig-owner Nabors Industries Ltd. and explorer Pioneer Natural Resources Co. all said in the past 24 hours that oil prices above $50 per barrel will encourage more drilling or provide the needed boost to cash flow. Bloomberg reports with oil bouncing close to $45 a barrel, an industry that has been shaving costs to stay competitive is ready for signs of stability at a price level less than half of 2014’s average. At an average price of $53 per barrel of oil means the world’s 50 biggest publicly traded companies in the industry can stop bleeding cash, according to oilfield consultant Wood Mackenzie Ltd. Nabors, which owns the world’s largest fleet of onshore drilling rigs, says it has already been talking with several large customers about plans to boost work in the second half of the year if prices rise “comfortably” above $50. Read the full story.
On the rise: Insurers will seek significant premium hikes under President Barack Obama’s healthcare law this summer—stiff medicine for consumers and voters ahead of the national political conventions. The Associated Press reports state-by-state premium requests could reflect what insurers see as the bottom line. “The health law has been a financial drain for many companies. They’re setting the stage for 2017 hikes that could reach well into the double digits, in some cases,” The AP reports. More than 12 million people nationwide get coverage through the health law’s markets, which offer subsidized private insurance. But the increases could also affect several million who purchase individual policies outside the government system. Read the full story.
