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.
Fifth Third Bancorp in Cincinnati also closed on its purchase of MB Financial and benefited from increases in corporate banking revenues and a slight improvement in credit quality.
The two banks, which plan to complete their merger by early fall, have little geographic overlap, so they can keep lending teams in place and push for immediate loan growth, according to Craig Dahl.
Columbia Banking CEO Hadley Robbins says he's confident the bank can grow on its own as the number of buyout targets in the Pacific Northwest dwindles.
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.
Asked whether the BB&T-SunTrust deal had sparked a desire to pursue deals, Andy Cecere emphasized a focus on digital upgrades and opening branches in new markets.
