Banks Still Chomping for M&A After BB&T-SunTrust — But Not for Tech Reasons

Two months after announcing the largest bank deal since the financial crisis, BB&T and SunTrust Banks executives continued touting the potential benefits of their pending merger on their first-quarter earnings calls. Although CEOs at major banks are seemingly going after acquisitions for reasons other than technology advancement or efficiency. BB&T announced last February that it would acquire SunTrust in a $66 billion transaction. Capital One Financial Chairman and CEO Richard Fairbank said during the McLean, Va.-based bank’s earnings call on April 25 that building out a national bank with a growing deposit business is “fundamentally central” to the bank's success. He also acknowledged that acquisitions are one way most banks achieve that scale. “While we have done bank acquisitions in the past, and they've been an important part of the strategic and funding migration of our company from a model line specialty finance company, our future is going to be driven by organic growth of this national bank,” Fairbank said. “That's different from what most players have done.” Fairbank did not reference technology benefits when discussing M&A. Similarly, KeyCorp CFO Donald Kimble said on April 18 that the Cleveland-based bank’s acquisition strategy “is not a priority for us” and that the company is “very focused on executing in our strategic plan and generating organic growth.” But he later said KeyBank is “always looking at areas where we can add additional people, products, and capabilities to align with our overall strategies.” U.S. Bancorp CEO Andrew Cecere said on April 17 that his Minneapolis-based bank will “consider all options for growth” and “look at anything that is available and/or any strategic initiative that would be sensible for our company.” But he also said U.S. Bank will focus on its fee business, at least in the near future, and also pointed to momentum in the bank’s digital activities. “We’re making a lot of progress across all of our business plans, and I feel very comfortable with where we are today,” Cecere said. The situation appears to be somewhat different at Citizens Financial Group , where technology does appear to be more of a deal consideration. The bank's chairman and CEO, Bruce Van Saun, on April 18 said the Providence, R.I.-based bank has a strategy and a capability drive forward in its own way, with help from fintech partners where applicable. “But, I certainly would have to say, as you look around the landscape and people are making scale arguments, you always keep an open mind about those things,” he said. PNC Financial Services Group CEO Bill Demchak, however, on April 12 played down M&A, saying “nothing has changed” at the Pittsburgh-based bank following the BB&T-SunTrust deal, which he added, “makes great sense for them.” "I don't see value in acquisitions, particularly at today's price, anything on the small side... not the least of which because of prices, but also just because it would take our eye off the ball," he said. "It just doesn't make sense and doesn't change our outcome strategically." Demchak said there is a set of competitors "waking up to the challenge of what it means to have scale, particularly on technology spend, as we get into a consolidated market." He said PNC has already done the spending that will give it the ability to grow organically. Norm DeLuca, Managing Director of Digital Banking at Bottomline Technologies , a fintech provider, told Bank Innovation that the ability to invest at scale in technology is necessary for banks to sustain competitiveness. “More combinations are coming,” he said, adding the BB&T-SunTrust deal was a recognition that there will be successes and failures in investing in technological transformation. BB&T CEO Kelly King said on his bank’s April 18 earnings call that leadership teams from both banks are meeting weekly and working to combine the two company cultures while retaining employees. The deal will enable the combined bank to scale more with technology, but the companies also expect to trim $1.6 billion in costs from their combined operations. At the time of the announcement, Seeking Alpha said the deal valued each SunTrust share at $62.85, a premium of about 7%. In a new ranking of the largest banks in the U.S., a combined BB&T-SunTrust bank would come in at No. 8, up from No. 15 and No. 16, respectively, with $441.2 billion in assets, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. This would make the combined bank a close rival to U.S. Bancorp, with $467 billion in assets.

Banks Still Chomping for M&A After BB&T-SunTrust — But Not for Tech Reasons

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Banks Still Chomping for M&A After BB&T-SunTrust — But Not for Tech Reasons

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