Huntington Bancshares continues to prioritize efficiency through branch reduction, cautious spending and automation in 2023.

The $179 billion bank outlined technology development efforts during its November 2022 Investor Day and announced plans for 2023 at the Bank of America Securities Financial Services Conference last week.

“We doubled technology development investment between 2019 and 2022 and in 2023 we’re going to continue to grow that tech development at roughly a 20% level, with a focus on delivering numerous new products and services across consumer and commercial business,” Huntington Chief Executive Steve Steinour said during the conference.

The bank’s efficiency efforts are driven by:

Branch reduction: The bank closed 30 branches in the first quarter of 2023 as part of its ongoing branch optimization efforts, according to the bank’s presentation.

“Our expectation was to reduce about 2% per year out of the branch network on a go-forward basis. … This year will be 3%,” Wasserman said. “Over time, there’s an opportunity to pluck the least productive nodes out of that network and generate net economics.”

Cautious spending: Huntington’s cost of operations and technology cost to run the bank stays in the single-digit growth rate, even when revenue can handle more, Wasserman said.

The cost of operations does not include technology development, he added.

Automation: Through Huntington’s “Operation Accelerate” program, the bank is going through its systems to detect inefficiencies in the client journey, including prospecting, acquisition, onboarding and servicing, said Zachary Wasserman, chief financial officer at Huntington, at last week’s conference.

“We go through and systematically find ways to automate, simply, drive efficiencies in those processes,” he said.

According to the bank’s presentation, technology development plans for the year include:

• New consumer products;
• Expanded capabilities in wealth and advisory;
• Commercial origination and servicing;
• Enhanced payment capabilities;
• Operation Accelerate; and
• Investment in mobile and AI platforms.

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