It just got harder for banks in Georgia to enforce noncompete agreements in employee contracts. For employees of two merging banks, BB&T and SunTrust, the timing couldn’t be better.
The two banks’ CEOs used a public hearing to argue their merger will be a boon for underserved markets. But other speakers warned that bank consolidation hurts communities.
CEO Kessell Stelling said he thinks about Synovus' depressed stock price daily, even though his team is ahead of schedule cutting costs from a deal that closed in January.
The cold, hard truth of bank mergers is that rivals often steal top producers and convince customers the bigger bank won’t care about them anymore. The CEOs of the merging banks explain their retention efforts.
Tens of millions of dollars of M&A costs and a decline in mortgage activity offset higher loan income in the first quarter at the two banks, which also offered a timeline for their rebranding and shareholder votes.
Allison Dukes says she will not be joining the combined company because she wants to remain in Atlanta, where she is involved with a number of civic and philanthropic organizations. The merged company will be headquartered in Charlotte, N.C.
The Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. will hold two public meetings on BB&T's planned purchase of SunTrust to consider the deal's impact on the U.S. banking system
The combined bank would be chartered in North Carolina, with the FDIC serving as its lead federal regulator, N.C. Banking Commissioner Ray Grace says. The merger partners had other options, including the Fed and the OCC.
