The Rhode Island company is counting on disruption from the megamerger to accelerate its Southeast expansion, according to commercial banking chief Don McCree. But BB&T’s Kelly King has a message for him: Not so fast.
SunTrust CEO Bill Rogers on Thursday explained the direction he and BB&T chief Kelly King are going with the new name, but gave no hints on what it is or when it will be unveiled.
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.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, the Senate Banking Committee's top Democrat, said the banks failed to provide enough information on how their proposed combination would affect employees and consumers.
The merged bank would set up an innovation and technology center in Charlotte as part of its bid to compete better against the largest institutions and fintech startups.
The stars aligned for the two longtime rivals to join forces, and some observers speculate that other regional banks will need to strike similar partnerships if they hope to remain competitive. But others say such deals are rare because they're hard to pull off.
At banks of all sizes — from the $7.2 billion-asset WSFS Financial to the $373 billion-asset Capital One — marketing budgets ballooned in the fourth quarter.
