Huntington (HBAN) to Expand Commercial Banking in Charlotte
Huntington Bancshares Incorporated HBAN, at a recent industry conference, announced plans to expand its commercial banking presence in Charlotte. Moreover, the company intends to add two new specialty banking industry verticals, such as healthcare asset-based lending and Native American financial services.
Given high deposit levels in Carolinas, HBAN’s aim to gain market share in the region is a strategic fit.
While Huntington has a commercial banking presence in Charlotte for nearly a decade, it plans to add teams of experienced bankers to create relationships with customers in Charlotte. This is expected to enhance capital and liquidity.
Per management, “We have been interested in doing more. The ability at this stage when other banks may be doing cost programs or reductions, or have a limited appetite for risk-weighted asset growth for capital or other reasons — this is a window.”
The five regions that the executive noted include Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham, Triad region, upstate South Carolina and coastal South Carolina.
The company’s expansion in the Carolinas will mainly be commercial with middle market, corporate and specialty banking capabilities. Huntington also intends to add to its existing regional banking teams, Small Business Administration practice finance and specialty banking teams.
This aside, the bank has added new verticals to its specialty banking, including a healthcare asset-based lending specialty banking group. This will strengthen the bond with existing customers while attracting new ones, per management.
The addition of a Native American financial service group will enhance deposits and loans in treasury management and capital markets. These additions are in line with HBAN’s continued goal to add one to two new verticals annually.
Such moves will strengthen the bank’s competitive position. In fact, Huntington is one of the top 20 bank holding companies in the United States and it remains focused on acquiring the industry's best deposit franchise. The company’s total deposits saw a four-year compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.6% in 2022.
Moreover, driven by a strong performance of the commercial and consumer portfolio, the total loan balance recorded a four-year CAGR of 16.6% in 2022. The uptrend for both metrics continued in the first nine months of 2023.
Management projects loan growth of approximately 5% in 2023. In 2024, the company anticipates sustaining deposit momentum with a continued focus on acquiring and deepening primary bank customer relationships.
Over the past month, shares of Huntington have gained 17.2% compared with the industry’s rise of 16.6%.
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HBAN currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Expansion Efforts by Other Banks
The all-stock merger deal between Banc of California, Inc. BANC and PacWest Bancorp wrapped up last month. Per the terms of the agreement, PacWest merged into Banc of California, and Banc of California, N.A. merged into Pacific Western Bank.
The deal received shareholder approvals in late November. All necessary regulatory approvals for the merger (announced in July) were received in October.
The combined company is the third-largest bank based in California. Jared Wolff, CEO and president of BANC said, “By combining the best of two well-respected banks, we have created one of the nation’s premier, relationship-focused business banks. We look forward to sharing our expanded capabilities with clients and all the communities we serve.”
LCNB Corp. LCNB, the holding company for LCNB National Bank, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Eagle Financial Bancorp, Inc. in a stock-and-cash transaction. The closing of the deal, subject to approval of EFBI shareholders and regulators, and other customary conditions, is expected in the second quarter of 2024. The approval of LCNB shareholders is not required.
Eagle Financial, the holding company for EAGLE.bank, is a full-service banking institution with three offices in Cincinnati, OH. As of Sep 30, 2023, it had approximately $175.8 million in assets, $140.8 million in loans, $135 million in deposits and $26.3 million in consolidated stockholders’ equity.
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