Bryce Elliott, former chief information officer of wholesale and enterprise functions at Truist Financial, is no longer working at the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank.

Elliott’s role at Truist is being taken on by Kelly Buchanan, executive vice president and head of enterprise payments and wholesale technology, and Jay Poole, executive vice president and head of consumer, small business and enterprise functions technology, a Truist spokesperson told Bank Automation News.

Elliott, who left Truist in December, oversaw the technology integration of SunTrust and BB&T, which merged in late 2019 to create the $543 billion digital-first Truist. However, the integration was much more expensive than expected, resulting in the need for additional cost-cutting throughout Truist’s operations this year.

Elliott, who was a frequent speaker at Bank Automation Summit events, spent seven years at the bank.

Read more: Major shakeup at Truist’s tech innovation operation

Digital operations shift

Truist set out to save $750 million in 2023 by adding efficiencies and eliminating redundancies. In the fourth quarter, the bank continued to reevaluate its simplification and overall technology spend, Chief Executive Bill Rogers said during the bank’s Q4 earnings call on Jan. 18.

Part of that strategy included the decision to “rescope or delay” a number of projects in “noncore areas,” Rogers said.

That pullback is an ongoing effort that surfaced in October 2023 when the bank shuttered its Foundry unit, which led the financial institution’s skunkworks ventures.

Fallout from that closure includes:

• Today, the bank announced a deal with Guardian Capital to sell its asset-management subsidiary Sterling Capital Management for $70 million, according to a Sterling Capital Management release. The deal is expected to close in Q2.
• Former Chief Information and Experience Officer Ken Meyer left the bank in October. He now serves as the CIO of enterprise functions technology at Wells Fargo.
• Lindsay Holden, former head of Truist Foundry, is also no longer at the bank. She took to LinkedIn in November to share that she was no longer with Truist, noting, “As for the future, I’m working on some fun new ideas and looking forward to collaborating with others.”
• The bank’s revenue fell 8% year over year, to $5.8 billion, according to its Q4 earnings supplement.
• Headcount fell 5.7% YoY to 50,905 and branch count fell 5.7% YoY to 2,001 branches, according to the Q4 supplement.

Market reaction

Truist’s stock was down 25% YoY to $36.22, and down 1.5% at market close today. The bank has a market capitalization of $48.3 billion.

During the bank’s Q4 earnings call, Wells Fargo Securities analyst Mike Mayo pointed out the bank’s core efficiency sat at 59% in 2023. He said: “This is not what we signed up for.”

He asked, “Are you guys doing enough and doing it fast enough to optimize?”

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