The arrival of Cincinnati, Ohio-based Fifth Third Bank in Wilmington is the latest in a string of financial institutions that have expanded their footprint into the Port City environs. In early December, the bank held an official opening in its Myrtle Grove location, a remodeled former SunTrust branch.

The new location brings to 90 the number of full-service banking centers Fifth Third maintains in the Carolinas. As of August 2023, its core deposits in that region totaled $6.7 billion, and it had made $205 million worth of mortgage loans and leases in the two states.

The Wilmington location won’t be Fifth Third’s only branch in the area, according to area officials Lee Fite and Thomas Lloyd. The bank has its eye on other fast-growing population centers further south along the coast.

Last spring, TD Bank, which has existing branches in Wilmington and Hampstead, opened a new location in Leland. The move is part of TD’s recently announced aggressive growth plans for the state.

And Huntington Bank, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, recently announced a major foray into retail banking in the Carolinas. This step follows the success of Huntington’s 2023 commercial banking entry into North Carolina, where it established a regional headquarters in Charlotte.

“Huntington will significantly invest in the Carolinas, adding over 350 colleagues across multiple business lines and approximately 55 retail branches over the next five years,” officials announced in September. “Initial branches will be placed in Charlotte, Raleigh and Winston-Salem in North Carolina and Charleston, Columbia, and Greenville in South Carolina.”

Keep your eye on Huntington, advised Peter Gwaltney, president and CEO of the N.C. Bankers Association. Although the bank’s announced plans don’t include a presence on the coast, Gwaltney believes that a future presence in Wilmington may well be in its sights.

The expansion of these and other banks “is reflective of the opportunity the banking industry sees in North Carolina because of our economic growth, vibrant economy and long runway ahead of us for continued economic growth because of the regulatory changes we’ve made through the General Assembly,” Gwaltney added.

The state’s tax policy aimed at supporting a pro-growth, healthy economic environment is also a motivator for financial institutions looking for new markets, Gwaltney said.

“Banks want to be where the growth is. When you see these (expansion) announcements, take them as a good sign not just for today but for the future,” he continued. “TD Bank has a significant presence in the Northeast. They have a significant presence in South Carolina and all the way down to Florida. Now they have made a significant commitment to expanding across North Carolina.”

Part of the growth Gwaltney references is the migration of bank customers from the Northeast and Midwest to the Southeast. If they can maintain their valued banking relationships as they head for warmer climes, that’s a plus.

“You see the numbers and the increase of people relocating to the South,” Linda McGuigan, TD’s retail market president, Mid-South Metro, said earlier this year. When the Leland branch held its grand opening that month, she said she was surprised at how many Brunswick County people who attended were existing TD customers.

“They told us how grateful they were that we had opened a bank in Leland,” she said. “They had their entire banking relationships with us and had been driving to (the branch in) Wilmington.”

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based PNC Bank, which entered the North Carolina market in 2012 when it acquired RBC, has also announced a $1.5 billion expansion plan to beef up its current network and add new branches in growth cities across the country, including Charlotte. The bank currently maintains four branches in Wilmington.

Another major player from the Northeast has plans to bulk up its presence in North and South Carolina. New York City-based JP Morgan Chase announced earlier this year it will open more branches in the Charlotte and Raleigh markets, where it already has a presence. The bank will also plant new flags in smaller markets like Greensboro, North Carolina, and Columbia, South Carolina. It has announced plans for two new branches in Myrtle Beach. Currently its only office in North Carolina’s coastal plain is in Greenville.

The proliferation of banks in North Carolina is a sign that the state’s economy and legislative environment is favorable to growth. But it’s also good news for commercial and retail customers, Gwaltney said.

“The consumer or small business, whoever the (prospective customer) is, wins because of this access to capital and services,” he said. Competition is good.”

Bucking the trend, one bank that expanded into the Wilmington market in recent years has left it. A sign on the door of Customers Bank loan production office at Mayfaire stated that the office had permanently closed as of Nov. 1. Customers Bank, based in Reading, Pennsylvania, opened its first North Carolina location here in Wilmington in the spring of 2022.

Officials at the Reading, Pennsylvania-based bank could not be reached for comment.
 

TRENDS ON THE HORIZON

Asked what changes or evolutions banking customers might see in the new year, Gwaltney said he doesn’t see any dominant trends that would change the way basic banking business is done.

“Most of what we will see is economic changes and regulatory changes that will touch both commercial and consumer customers,” he said, noting that mortgage rates and CD rates are worth monitoring.

“There is a certain potential degree of refinancing activity for people who took out small business loans or mortgages,” he continued.

Gwaltney believes the nation’s economic climate is headed in the right direction into a “more normal environment with low inflation, reasonable interest rates and less volatility.

“From a regulatory perspective we have, in the past almost-four years, been on a regulatory tsunami, with proposals and regulations coming down from Washington at a pace I’ve not seen in my years in banking,” he continued.

“They are all substantial, and they are all 600 and 900 pages at a time,” he said. “It’s a lot to review and consume, and (the cost of compliance) creates a tremendous burden on the banks in terms of people, software and changes in policies and procedures. What we’re looking for in the coming year from the new administration and Congress is not less regulation but a more business-friendly pace of either new regulations or changes in rules that are tailored to the risk and complexity of individual banks.”