Huntington Bancshares credited its digital roadmap for its double-digit growth in new product origination capabilities in the fourth quarter. The bank saw digitally-assisted mortgage applications quadruple from 9% of all mortgages in the third quarter to 36% in the fourth quarter.

New digital consumer deposit accounts, which include checking, savings and money market accounts, also rose from 28% of all accounts in Q3 to 44% in Q4.

The Columbus, Ohio-based bank, which held $123 billion in assets as of Dec. 31, 2020, has invested heavily in technology in recent years. While that did raise expenses by approximately 4 percentage points — or $31 million — the earnings report noted that its technology investments are paying off.

Looking ahead, Huntington’s strategic plan calls for investing in its tech development, marketing and select personal ads, according to SVP and CFO Zachary Wasserman. “We feel that now is exactly the right time to make these investments and we’re already starting to see some of the returns from them,” he said in the Jan. 22 earnings call.

Wasserman added the company has advanced its digital development road maps across every major business line to “drive product origination, account deepening and … use and servicing efficiencies, and personalization and optimization across each product line.”

Chairman, President and CEO Stephen Steinour said the bank’s commercial loans grew, with the pipeline improving year over year, in part because of the increase in digital demand spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Huntington did not respond to a request for comment on its digital earnings before press time.

Shares of Huntington Bancshares [NYSE: HBAN] were trading at $13.48 as of market close, down 2.6% from market open. The bank has a market capitalization of $15.46 billion.

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