For the third consecutive year, mergers and acquisitions made for some of the biggest headlines in local banking news in 2017, while a continuous game of branch musical chairs was played in the background.
Deals galore
Union acquired Xenith in a $700 million all-stock deal.
The biggest Richmond M&A bomb was dropped in May when Union Bank & Trust announced its plan to acquire local peer Xenith Bank. The marriage, which will become effective at yearend, will create a $12 billion statewide giant that Union CEO John Asbury touts as “the new Crestar,” hearkening back to the days of large, dominant Virginia banks.
While that deal has yet to close, plenty of others were sealed during 2017 that changed or soon will change the face of the Richmond banking market.
Virginia Commonwealth Bank and Bank of Lancaster got together in the spring, relocating their combined $800 million in assets to a new headquarters in the West End. The deal helped the bank lure some key talent and a big new pile of cash.
As summer rolled in, Henrico-based EVB closed its deal with Northern Virginia-based Sonabank, the latter of which is the brand they’re using going forward.
A deal involving banks from North Carolina and South Carolina rippled through Richmond in early December, as Charlotte-based Park Sterling was gobbled up by South State Bank. The combined $14 billion institution has 170 locations, including seven in Richmond that will be rebranded with the South State flag.
The same week, Memphis-based First Tennessee Bank absorbed Capital Bank in Charlotte to create a $40 billion behemoth with 350 branches across the Southeast. We’ll soon see the Capital Bank name emblazoned on First Tennessee’s Richmond outpost at Reynolds Crossing.
The smallest local deal of year led to the creation of an entirely new brand, as Prince George-based Bank of McKenney acquired South Hill’s Citizens Community Bank. The $450 million bank is now known as Touchstone Bank and is led by CCB’s chief executive James Black.
Doing the bank branch shuffle
TowneBank officials unveil the Libbie Mill branch. (TowneBank)
Local banks branched out and out-of-town banks moved into Richmond, as competitors of all sizes chased down new revenue with new locations.
Henrico-based Essex Bank continued its annual habit of new branches, opening three this year in Short Pump, Lynchburg and Cumberland. It has two others in the works for next year: in the Stonehenge Village Shopping Center in Midlothian and in Lynchburg.
TowneBank, which has steadily grown its Richmond presence since moving in a few years ago, opened in the ever-evolving Libbie Mill development. That news also revealed the bank wanted to build from scratch next to an existing branch in Chesterfield.
Atlanta-based giant SunTrust has a new Richmond branch in the works in Manchester, across the street from the company’s massive mortgage operation.
Tiny Powhatan-based New Horizon Bank made a move in 2017 to upgrade its visible presence, as it began work on a new branch in a Luck Cos.-led commercial development.
Other moves included C&F Bank adding a branch in Williamsburg and a mortgage office in Chesapeake and the Outer Banks; and Midlothian-based Village Bank making its first move into Hampton Roads with a new branch in Williamsburg.
Also making moves into Richmond were Strasburg-based First Bank, which took over a former Park Sterling branch on Patterson Avenue while luring a local banking veteran, and Blackstone-based Citizens Bank & Trust, which snagged the former CEO of New Horizon to lead a new office in Powhatan.
A small wave of branch closures also swept through town in 2017, most from big national banks that do business in Richmond.
Bank of America announced the closure of two local branches this year, including one in Brookland Park and Bon Air. The most prominent closure was Wells Fargo going dark in a prime spot on the ground floor of the Wytestone Plaza building at 801 E. Main St.
Credit unions in on the action
Not to be left out, local credit unions had their share of action in 2017. At least three credit union mergers were announced or completed, including one that will make a Henrico institution the East Coast hub for one of its larger West Coast peers and others involving longtime credit unions born out of a cookie factory and box factory.
For the third consecutive year, mergers and acquisitions made for some of the biggest headlines in local banking news in 2017, while a continuous game of branch musical chairs was played in the background.
Deals galore
Union acquired Xenith in a $700 million all-stock deal.
The biggest Richmond M&A bomb was dropped in May when Union Bank & Trust announced its plan to acquire local peer Xenith Bank. The marriage, which will become effective at yearend, will create a $12 billion statewide giant that Union CEO John Asbury touts as “the new Crestar,” hearkening back to the days of large, dominant Virginia banks.
While that deal has yet to close, plenty of others were sealed during 2017 that changed or soon will change the face of the Richmond banking market.
Virginia Commonwealth Bank and Bank of Lancaster got together in the spring, relocating their combined $800 million in assets to a new headquarters in the West End. The deal helped the bank lure some key talent and a big new pile of cash.
As summer rolled in, Henrico-based EVB closed its deal with Northern Virginia-based Sonabank, the latter of which is the brand they’re using going forward.
A deal involving banks from North Carolina and South Carolina rippled through Richmond in early December, as Charlotte-based Park Sterling was gobbled up by South State Bank. The combined $14 billion institution has 170 locations, including seven in Richmond that will be rebranded with the South State flag.
The same week, Memphis-based First Tennessee Bank absorbed Capital Bank in Charlotte to create a $40 billion behemoth with 350 branches across the Southeast. We’ll soon see the Capital Bank name emblazoned on First Tennessee’s Richmond outpost at Reynolds Crossing.
The smallest local deal of year led to the creation of an entirely new brand, as Prince George-based Bank of McKenney acquired South Hill’s Citizens Community Bank. The $450 million bank is now known as Touchstone Bank and is led by CCB’s chief executive James Black.
Doing the bank branch shuffle
TowneBank officials unveil the Libbie Mill branch. (TowneBank)
Local banks branched out and out-of-town banks moved into Richmond, as competitors of all sizes chased down new revenue with new locations.
Henrico-based Essex Bank continued its annual habit of new branches, opening three this year in Short Pump, Lynchburg and Cumberland. It has two others in the works for next year: in the Stonehenge Village Shopping Center in Midlothian and in Lynchburg.
TowneBank, which has steadily grown its Richmond presence since moving in a few years ago, opened in the ever-evolving Libbie Mill development. That news also revealed the bank wanted to build from scratch next to an existing branch in Chesterfield.
Atlanta-based giant SunTrust has a new Richmond branch in the works in Manchester, across the street from the company’s massive mortgage operation.
Tiny Powhatan-based New Horizon Bank made a move in 2017 to upgrade its visible presence, as it began work on a new branch in a Luck Cos.-led commercial development.
Other moves included C&F Bank adding a branch in Williamsburg and a mortgage office in Chesapeake and the Outer Banks; and Midlothian-based Village Bank making its first move into Hampton Roads with a new branch in Williamsburg.
Also making moves into Richmond were Strasburg-based First Bank, which took over a former Park Sterling branch on Patterson Avenue while luring a local banking veteran, and Blackstone-based Citizens Bank & Trust, which snagged the former CEO of New Horizon to lead a new office in Powhatan.
A small wave of branch closures also swept through town in 2017, most from big national banks that do business in Richmond.
Bank of America announced the closure of two local branches this year, including one in Brookland Park and Bon Air. The most prominent closure was Wells Fargo going dark in a prime spot on the ground floor of the Wytestone Plaza building at 801 E. Main St.
Credit unions in on the action
Not to be left out, local credit unions had their share of action in 2017. At least three credit union mergers were announced or completed, including one that will make a Henrico institution the East Coast hub for one of its larger West Coast peers and others involving longtime credit unions born out of a cookie factory and box factory.