Investors seem to be betting that a long-rumored sale of the Dallas company is on hold now that it has named a new CEO, but analysts say it remains an attractive takeover target for a larger regional bank.
Now that the Cincinnati company recently completed its first bank acquisition in over a decade, CEO Greg Carmichael is pushing ahead on tech hires and expansion outside its Midwestern core.
The Dallas company finally made the move that had long been expected: Curtis Farmer succeeds Ralph Babb as chief executive. However, Farmer will still report to Babb, who stays on as executive chairman.
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 Salt Lake City bank saw growth across all lending categories and an improvement in credit quality. It also said it has finished the second of three stages in its multiyear conversion to new core-banking technology.
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.
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.
The Providence, R.I., bank reported increases in most fee-based lines and loan categories, and it continued to add deposits through its new digital franchise, Citizens Access.
