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Recent acquisitions create major players in banking
Kira Jenkins //March 1, 2019//
Recent acquisitions create major players in banking
// March 1, 2019//
The landscape of Virginia’s banking industry is changing.
Two of the biggest banking companies operating in Virginia, SunTrust Banks Inc. and BB&T Corp., have announced a $66 billion merger.
The resulting Charlotte-based bank would be the sixth-largest in the U.S., with total assets of $42 billion. The combined bank will have a new name, which will be decided before the deal is completed in the fourth quarter.
In Virginia, Atlanta-based SunTrust and Winston-Salem, N.C.-based BB&T ranked as the fifth and seventh biggest banks, respectively, in terms of deposits held on June 30, 2018, according to the FDIC.
The merger would create a financial institution with combined Virginia deposits of more than $44 billion, vaulting it ahead of third-ranked Wells Fargo & Co., whose state deposit total was $35.5 billion at end of June.
The combined bank would become the de-facto state market leader. The top two companies on the FDIC’s Virginia list, Capital One Bank USA and E*Trade Bank, are based in Virginia but provide banking services throughout the country.
On June 30, BB&T had 303 branches in Virginia, while SunTrust had 181. Those numbers could fall as the merger partners seek ways to cut $1.6 billion in annual expenses by 2022.
SunTrust Mortgage is based in Richmond as is the brokerage and investment banking firm BB&T Scott & Stringfellow.
While SunTrust and BB&T make plans to combine, Richmond-based Union Bankshares is absorbing its latest acquisition, Reston-based Access Bank.
The $500 million, all-stock deal secured what Union CEO John Asbury describes as the “last piece of the puzzle” in creating a statewide, Virginia-based regional bank. There hasn’t been a regional bank with headquarters in the commonwealth since banks such as Crestar, Signet and Sovran were sold to out-of-state companies more than 20 years ago.
Union now has total assets of approximately $16.8 billion and deposits of about $12.2 billion.
With its acquisition of Access Bank and Xenith Bank last year, Union plans to rebrand its operations as Atlantic Union Bank starting in May.
Meanwhile, another Virginia-based bank is expanding. The parent company of Danville-based American National Bank and Trust is acquiring Roanoke-based HomeTown Bank. The $95.6 million deal is scheduled to close this year.
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