MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb 4, 2026--
U.S. Bank has named two new senior leaders to its Payments: Merchant and Institutional (PMI) team as the company continues to bolster and transform its Payments businesses.
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Peter Geronimo has joined U.S. Bank to lead the company’s new PMI Sales Distribution team. This new team will further enable U.S. Bank to deliver a holistic approach to clients, combining exceptional relationship management and payments expertise to best serve clients’ needs.
Geronimo most recently served as Managing Director and Head of North American Sales for Commercial Bank, Services at Citi. In addition to his 16 years of experience in treasury, payments and working capital, he has a successful track record for driving strategic growth through an engaging sales culture, navigating complex organizations to deliver exceptional client experiences. Geronimo is based in New York City.
Raj Gazula has also joined the bank to lead strategy and serve as the Chief Administrative Officer for PMI. Gazula brings nearly 30 years of experience to the role, with deep payments and strategy experience. He led Wholesale Payments at Truist including treasury solutions, merchant acquiring and commercial cards. Prior to that, he led the strategy and transformation work for the Corporate and Institutional Group when Sun Trust integrated with BB&T. Gazula is based in Atlanta.
Both Geronimo and Gazula will report to Mark Runkel, vice chair and head of PMI at U.S. Bank.
“I’m delighted to welcome Peter and Raj to the PMI team,” said Runkel. “U.S. Bank has deep experience, diverse global capabilities and longevity in payments. Peter and Raj are joining at an important time in our transformation journey. The work we’ve done over the past year has allowed us to reimagine how we harness our payments capabilities, simplify and streamline the client experience and more effectively meet our clients’ needs now and as they grow.”
Payments transformation has been one of three strategic growth priorities at U.S. Bank over the past year, along with organic growth and expense management. PMI is a global business encompassing merchant acquiring, card issuing and money movement for mid-market to large institutional companies.
About U.S. Bancorp
U.S. Bancorp, with approximately 70,000 employees and $692 billion in assets as of December 31, 2025, is the parent company of U.S. Bank National Association. Headquartered in Minneapolis, the company serves millions of customers locally, nationally and globally through a diversified mix of businesses including consumer banking, business banking, commercial banking, institutional banking, payments and wealth management. U.S. Bancorp has been recognized for its approach to digital innovation, community partnerships and customer service, including being named one of Fortune’s most admired superregional banks. Learn more at usbank.com/about.
Raj Gazula
Peter Geronimo
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Envoys from Moscow and Kyiv met in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday for another round of U.S.-brokered talks on ending the almost four-year war as Russian cluster munitions killed seven people at a market in Ukraine.
The delegations from Moscow and Kyiv were joined in the United Arab Emirates by U.S. officials, Rustem Umerov, Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council chief, who was present at the meeting, said on social media.
Umerov said the planned two-day negotiations in Abu Dhabi started with all three delegations present, after which negotiators were to break into groups according to topics and then meet as a full group again at the end.
The American team was due to include special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who also attended last month’s meeting, according to the White House.
The current talks also coincide with the expiry of the last remaining nuclear arms pact between Russia and the United States on Thursday. Trump and Putin could extend the terms of the treaty or renegotiate its conditions in an effort to prevent a new nuclear arms race.
Last month’s discussions in the Emirati capital, part of a U.S. push to end the fighting, yielded some progress but no breakthrough on key issues, officials said.
The Abu Dhabi talks were held amid Ukrainian outrage over major Russian attacks on its energy system, which have occurred each winter since Russia launched its all-out invasion of its neighbor on Feb. 24 2022.
A huge Russian bombardment overnight from Monday to Tuesday included hundreds of drones and a record 32 ballistic missiles, wounding at least 10 people. This came despite Ukraine’s understanding that Russian President Vladimir Putin had told Trump he would temporarily halt strikes on Ukraine’s power grid.
Ukrainian civilians are struggling with one of the coldest winters in years, which saw temperatures around minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 Fahrenheit).
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov wouldn’t offer any details on the Abu Dhabi talks and said that Moscow wasn’t planning any comment on their results.
He said that “the doors for a peaceful settlement are open,” but noted that Moscow will press its military action until Kyiv meets its demands.
Russia is hitting Ukraine’s energy facilities because its armed forces believe the targets are associated with Kyiv’s military effort, Peskov said.
There has been a lack of clarity about how long Putin had promised to observe a pause on power grid attacks.
Trump said Tuesday at the White House that Putin had agreed to halt strikes for a week, through Feb. 1, and that the Russian leader had kept his word. But Zelenskyy said Tuesday that “barely four days have passed of the week Russia was asked to hold off,” before Ukraine was hit with fresh attacks, suggesting the Ukrainian leader wasn't fully aware of the terms of the Trump-Putin agreement.
Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump was “unfortunately unsurprised” by Moscow’s resumption of attacks.
On Wednesday, more than 200 repair crews were at work in Kyiv to restore power, the Ukrainian Energy Ministry said, adding that staff were exhausted and would be rotated. More than 1,100 apartment buildings in the capital were still without heating, Zelenskyy said.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, said the developments were part of Moscow’s negotiating strategy.
“The Kremlin will likely attempt to portray its adherence to this short-term energy strikes moratorium as a significant concession to gain leverage in the upcoming peace talks, even though the Kremlin used these few days to stockpile missiles for a larger strike package,” it said late Tuesday.
Russia used cluster munitions Wednesday in an attack on a busy market in eastern Ukraine that killed seven and wounded eight others, officials said.
The attack on the town of Druzhkivka darkened prospects for progress in the UAE, with Donetsk regional military administration chief Vadym Filashkin describing Russian talk of a ceasefire as “worthless.”
Russia also launched 105 drones against Ukraine overnight, and air defenses shot down 88 of them, the Ukrainian air force said Wednesday. Strikes by 17 drones were recorded at 14 locations, as well as falling debris at five sites, it said.
In the central Dnipropetrovsk region, a Russian strike on a residential area killed a 68-year-old woman and a 38-year-old man, regional military administration head Oleksandr Hancha said.
The southern city of Odesa also came under a large-scale attack, regional military administration head Oleh Kiper said. About 20 residential buildings were damaged, with four people rescued from under the rubble, he said.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
In this image made from video provided by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, Russian Multiple rocket launcher TOS-1A fires towards Ukrainian positions on an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
