Huntington Bank’s Akron operations will be large enough to have its own regional headquarters after the proposed acquisition of FirstMerit.
And total employment in the Akron area could someday exceed the 1,200 workers promised as part of the purchase deal.
These are among the updates shared by Huntington Bancshares Chairman, President and Chief Executive Steve Steinour during a wide-ranging interview Friday at the Beacon Journal.
Steinour acknowledged the anxiety felt in the Akron area by FirstMerit employees and customers about the proposed merger, which is expected to close in September.
Steinour reiterated previous statements that it’s too early to go into detail about layoffs and branch consolidations resulting from the $3.4 billion stock and cash deal.
Teams from both banks are working to make the transition seamless, he said.
Huntington already was looking at moving some call center jobs from its Columbus headquarters because the competitive job market there with a 3 percent unemployment rate was making it difficult to keep employees, Steinour said. The opportunity to bring jobs to Akron to an “existing facility and great workforce and attractive long-term demographics has a lot of attractiveness to us.”
The merger agreement includes promises to establish a new call center or operations center in Akron and have Akron employment back to 1,200 workers — the current FirstMerit workforce in the city — both within two years.
“We want to put jobs here,” Steinour said. “This is an important strategic component from our perspective of an opportunity with FirstMerit.
“…We aren’t going to get to the 1,200 and stop. We have been adding 200 to 500 jobs a year. If we get welcomed and transition well, I would expect that over time, we will be over 1,200 in Akron,” he said.
There’s room to grow.
Huntington Bank’s Summit County presence is fairly low, employing 133 people at 20 stand-alone and Giant Eagle branches. The bank employs 12,000 in six states with 8,650 in Ohio.
Huntington is No. 1 in market share in the Canton market, which has its own regional headquarters overseeing several areas, including Akron. But in Summit County, Huntington is about sixth or seventh, Steinour said.
Akron will have its own regional headquarters in Akron, separate from Canton, he said.
Nick Browning, FirstMerit’s current Akron region president and CEO, has been asked to stay on to head the Akron regional headquarters, Steinour said.
“He’s a great resource and he’s very important in our plans,” said Steinour of Browning, who has not yet accepted the position.
FirstMerit Chairman, President and CEO Paul Greig has agreed to stay on as a consultant for Huntington for three years, Steinour said.
Steinour said it’s too early to say what type of jobs and salary levels will be at the Akron regional headquarters and operations, but it will be a mix.
“You won’t have the full executive suite and won’t have the same level of management presence, but there will be management for sure,” he said.
Employees will be asked to be flexible and perhaps change departments or jobs, he said.
No changes for now
No changes to payroll, benefits or incentives will take place until the end of the year to make it easier for employees, Steinour said. Any layoffs would happen at the close of the acquisition, in the third quarter or in the first quarter of 2017.
Some jobs that were outsourced before could come back. In December 2014, FirstMerit outsourced its back-office mortgage business with Quicken Loans Mortgage Services for underwriting, processing and closing services for many of its loans. On Friday, Steinour said Huntington handles all stages of mortgages and intends to bring that FirstMerit business back from Quicken.
Branch consolidations will not happen at least until next year, he said. Steinour has said no branch employees — at either bank — will lose their jobs.
For customers, Steinour said people will see more products from a combined Huntington and FirstMerit, including Huntington’s 24-hour grace period, giving customers until midnight the next business day to cover any overdrafts.
Huntington is the largest U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) lender in Ohio in number of total loans and total amounts, surpassing all other banks combined in both categories, according to bank officials. Huntington processed 588 loans worth more than $91 million in Ohio for the most recent numbers reported from October through January.
The bank was also the No. 1 mortgage lender in the state by money loaned for mortgages for 2014 with more than $932 million.
As part of the deal, Huntington has pledged to create a new charitable foundation in Akron “dedicated to grant making, charitable contributions and support in the city of Akron” for 10 years, with contributions of $2 million yearly, or $20 million.
“I believe over time, we’ll earn a level of trust and hopefully enjoy some of the respect or much of the respect that FirstMerit has acquired over its 175 years,” said Steinour.
Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at 330-996-3724 or blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her @blinfisherABJ on Twitter or www.facebook.com/BettyLinFisherABJ and see all her stories at www.ohio.com/betty.