WesBanco in Wheeling, West Virginia, will have a new chief executive several months sooner than planned.
The $17 billion-asset company said this week that longtime president and CEO Todd Clossin will retire on Aug. 1. He had originally planned to step down at the start of next year.
Clossin will be succeeded by Jeffrey Jackson, who had been seen as the heir apparent since joining the company as chief operating officer last year. The accelerated transition reflects Jackson's "timely and successful acclimation to the business and aligns with his first anniversary" with WesBanco, the company said.
"The executive management team and I have worked closely with Jeff in every aspect of the business for nearly a year, and he is well prepared to take the helm. With him and the company in a strong position, I have decided the time is right to retire," Clossin said in a news release issued Tuesday.
Jackson arrived at WesBanco in August from the $80 billion-asset First Horizon Bank in Memphis, Tennessee. He most recently was COO of regional banking in Memphis.
In the three full quarters since he joined WesBanco, it has generated loan growth, maintained strong credit quality and remained well capitalized with solid liquidity, the company said.
WesBanco said in its first-quarter earnings release that its loan portfolio grew at a 7% annualized pace, while deposits declined 2% amid rising interest rates, increased funding costs and
"Our current loan-to-deposit ratio of 83% also provides us with ample lending capacity to support our customers as they grow," Jackson said in the company's quarterly earnings release last month.
WesBanco said its percentage of nonperforming loans to total loans was just 0.36% in the first quarter, down 3 basis points from the prior quarter.
WesBanco — which has nearly 200 branches across Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania and its home state — has recently been hiring bankers in metropolitan areas across its footprint to pursue more market share
Total loans among U.S. banks in April were flat compared with the prior month, according to the Federal Reserve. The Fed's latest Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey found a majority of respondents expected to tighten lending standards across all categories for the rest of this year.
D.A. Davidson analyst Manuel Navas said WesBanco's low loan-to-deposit ratio gives the company room for 7% loan growth this year. He noted the company had recently hired 50 commercial and mortgage lenders to expand in high-growth markets.
Clossin, who has been CEO since 2014, will continue as a vice chairman and serve on the board's executive committee. During his tenure as chief executive, WesBanco's total assets nearly tripled, it made five acquisitions and it expanded into three states.
"It has been a privilege and an honor to lead this organization for the past 10 years, and I am confident that WesBanco will continue to thrive under Jeff's leadership," Clossin said.
