Huntington Bancshares is planning a 55-branch expansion in the Carolinas, executives said Monday, as the company pushes to build retail and wealth management businesses in a fast-growing region where it rolled out commercial banking earlier this year.
The Columbus, Ohio-based bank plans to add more than 350 employees as it builds its footprint in North Carolina and South Carolina over the next five years, aiming to capture what it estimates as an $8 billion long-term deposit opportunity.
Brant Standridge, who leads consumer and regional banking at Huntington, said the bank's foray into consumer lending, wealth management and consumer deposits will support continued commercial banking growth in the region.
The bank's strategy is based on lessons it gleaned from recent expansions in Denver and Minnesota's Twin Cities, where Huntington ramped up business after its 2021 acquisition of Detroit-based TCF Financial, Standridge said.
"We've perfected and continue to refine a playbook for a de novo branch expansion," Standridge said at an industry conference on Monday. "We've learned a lot in Denver and the Twin Cities, and we will apply that in the Carolinas."
The $196 billion-asset bank's start with its national commercial banking businesses in the area is a leg up as it looks to add market share, he said. Since announcing the commercial banking expansion plans last year, Huntington has established units in five Carolinas markets and has added 120 relationships, focused on verticals like middle market, Small Business Administration and health care lending, Standridge said.
Huntington isn't the first bank to go after the Carolina markets in recent years. As the population in the two states has rapidly increased, JPMorgan Chase and Dallas-based Comerica have made pushes there. Meanwhile, Bank of America and Truist Financial, both based in Charlotte, North Carolina, are closing branches in other states to cut costs, even as they try to stave off competition in their home territory.
Standridge expressed confidence in Huntington's ability to successfully boost its franchise in the targeted markets. The bank plans to place its initial new branches in Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham and the Winston-Salem-Greensboro-High Point triad in North Carolina, along with Charleston, Columbia and Greenville, South Carolina.
Huntington's volume of business in those communities could eventually "rival many of our existing markets," Standridge said.
The bank is searching for branch sites, with construction slated to start in 2026.
The costs of the expansion, including building and staffing branches, are "well within our business-as-usual investment capacity that we planned in 2025 and beyond," Standridge said.
Huntington also provided an update Monday about its quarterly and annual expectations, maintaining its previously projected annual net interest income decrease of 1% to 4%, but lowering its loan growth guidance to a 3% increase from last year, versus prior estimates of 3% to 4%.
Piper Sandler analyst Scott Siefers wrote in a note that the reiteration of the bank's net interest income guidance is positive, given what he described as market concerns. But he maintained his underweight rating and price target of $14.32 a share.
Huntington's stock price climbed 3.3% Monday, trading at $14.78 by midday.
The bank reiterated its expectation that its core expenses would increase by 4.5% in 2024, driven by organic growth and technology costs. Chief Financial Officer Zach Wasserman said Monday that Huntington launched six commercial verticals in three new states this year.
"The core activity is to drive continual re-engineering in our baseline operating expenses and then reinvest those savings into offensive and growth-related investments in technology development, marketing the addition of new capabilities," he said.
The bank's organic growth strategy has also included efforts in Texas. Initiatives in Texas and the Carolinas produced about $600 million in loan growth in the second quarter, the CFO said in July.
