When will bbt change to truist?

Effective December 6, 2019, Truist Financial Corporation ("Truist," previously, BB&T Corporation, "BB&T") completed its previously announced merger of equals with SunTrust Banks, Inc .

"This is a historic moment for Truist – a financial services organization created from two companies with shared values and a deep commitment to building a better future for our clients and communities," said Truist Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kelly S. King. "The completion of this merger of equals is a tremendous achievement and a testament to the thousands of Truist teammates who have diligently worked to ensure its timely conclusion."

"With Truist, we're creating a new company with a bold, transformative vision to increase investment in innovative technology and create a distinctive teammate and client experience," said Truist President and Chief Operating Officer Bill Rogers. "We have much work ahead of us, but we're well-positioned to create meaningful change for the clients we serve and the communities where we live and work."

For now, clients will continue to be served through their respective BB&T or SunTrust branches, websites, mobile apps, financial advisors and relationship managers. Clients can now use BB&T and SunTrust ATMs to make withdrawals without incurring out-of-network fees.

The transition to the full Truist experience will occur as systems are integrated over the next two years. There will be no merger-related changes to account numbers or routing numbers for checking, savings and money market accounts for the vast majority of clients. As a result, most clients won't need to order new checks or make changes to direct deposits, automatic drafts or wire instructions related to these accounts. Clients can find the latest information at Truist.com.

Truist teammates will be offered a total compensation and benefits program designed to attract and retain the best talent in the industry. This includes industry-leading time off programs to ensure maximum flexibility in planning life events, company-subsidized health care, financial wellness programs and the unique combination of a 401(k) match program and pension plan offered to most teammates.

Truist is committed to building and sustaining its communities. Under the previously announced Truist Community Benefits Plan, $60 billion is earmarked for lending or investment in low- and moderate-income (LMI) communities from 2020–2022. The plan includes goals for lending to LMI borrowers and small businesses, as well as affordable housing development and community revitalization; support of nonprofits; and participation in a variety of service and outreach programs. The Truist Foundation will focus its philanthropic efforts throughout Truist's footprint to support nonprofit organizations. Additionally, Truist will fulfill a financial commitment of $17.4 million annually for Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and the Piedmont Triad community, and $100 million annually for the Atlanta community to double the level of current community investment through 2021.

The merger of equals was announced Feb. 7, 2019, and final regulatory approvals were received on Nov. 19, 2019.

About Truist

Truist Financial Corporation (NYSE: TFC) is a purpose-driven company dedicated to building a better future for its clients, teammates and communities. With 275 years of combined BB&T and SunTrust history, Truist is one of the nation's largest financial services holding companies offering a wide range of services including retail, small business and commercial banking; asset management; capital markets; commercial real estate; corporate and institutional banking; insurance; mortgage; payments; specialized lending and wealth management. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Truist serves approximately 10 million households with leading market share in many high-growth markets in the country. Learn more at Truist.com.

SOURCE Truist Financial Corporation

"This is a historic moment for Truist – a financial services organization created from two companies with shared values and a deep commitment to building a better future for our clients and communities," said Truist Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kelly S. King. "The completion of this merger of equals is a tremendous achievement and a testament to the thousands of Truist teammates who have diligently worked to ensure its timely conclusion."

"With Truist, we're creating a new company with a bold, transformative vision to increase investment in innovative technology and create a distinctive teammate and client experience," said Truist President and Chief Operating Officer Bill Rogers. "We have much work ahead of us, but we're well-positioned to create meaningful change for the clients we serve and the communities where we live and work."

For now, clients will continue to be served through their respective BB&T or SunTrust branches, websites, mobile apps, financial advisors and relationship managers. Clients can now use BB&T and SunTrust ATMs to make withdrawals without incurring out-of-network fees.

The transition to the full Truist experience will occur as systems are integrated over the next two years. There will be no merger-related changes to account numbers or routing numbers for checking, savings and money market accounts for the vast majority of clients. As a result, most clients won't need to order new checks or make changes to direct deposits, automatic drafts or wire instructions related to these accounts. Clients can find the latest information at Truist.com.

Truist teammates will be offered a total compensation and benefits program designed to attract and retain the best talent in the industry. This includes industry-leading time off programs to ensure maximum flexibility in planning life events, company-subsidized health care, financial wellness programs and the unique combination of a 401(k) match program and pension plan offered to most teammates.

Truist is committed to building and sustaining its communities. Under the previously announced Truist Community Benefits Plan, $60 billion is earmarked for lending or investment in low- and moderate-income (LMI) communities from 2020–2022. The plan includes goals for lending to LMI borrowers and small businesses, as well as affordable housing development and community revitalization; support of nonprofits; and participation in a variety of service and outreach programs. The Truist Foundation will focus its philanthropic efforts throughout Truist's footprint to support nonprofit organizations. Additionally, Truist will fulfill a financial commitment of $17.4 million annually for Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and the Piedmont Triad community, and $100 million annually for the Atlanta community to double the level of current community investment through 2021.

The merger of equals was announced Feb. 7, 2019, and final regulatory approvals were received on Nov. 19, 2019.

About Truist

The closing of the merger, however, kicked off nearly three years of integration efforts that required heavy one-time costs and really blurred the story that the franchise was trying to tell. Since the start of 2020, Truist's stock has fallen more than 13%. Meanwhile, the KBW Nasdaq Bank Index (NASDAQ: BKX) is down about 2%, so investors have been waiting for the benefits of the merger to come through.

In its recent fourth-quarter earnings call, Truist's management team said the last of the merger-related costs have been incurred, which will allow the bank to shift to the offensive. Now, it's time for management to show the merits of the merger.

As the merger integration has progressed, management has consistently said it expects the combined entity to be able to deliver industry-leading numbers, including a return on average tangible common equity (ROTCE) in the low 20s percentile, as well as an efficiency ratio (expenses as a percentage of revenue) in the low 50s percentile.

In the fourth quarter, Truist had an adjusted efficiency ratio, which strips out merger-related costs, of 54%, its lowest since closing the merger. In the fourth quarter, Truist had an ROTCE of 27.6%. For the full year, the bank's ROTCE was nearly 23%. Keep in mind, though, that the environment for banks in 2022 was favorable due to strong loan growth, higher interest rates, and benign credit quality. The impact of higher rates on deposit costs also did not really start to hit until the fourth quarter.

Speaking of loan growth, this was a bright spot for Truist, which grew average loans by 3.6% in the fourth quarter, while most banks are starting to see what was a strong year for loan growth in 2022 slow down. This reflects some of the very attractive Southeastern markets that Truist now has scaled in as a result of the merger.

Truist is also seeing its deposit betas perform better than expected, at 27% in the fourth quarter. A deposit beta shows how much a bank will raise its deposit costs in response to the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes over a set period of time (the lower the beta, the better). However, with the Fed having raised rates aggressively in 2022, banks are in unchartered waters, and it remains to be seen if Truist's betas will continue to outperform this year.

Still, during the merger integration, Truist invested heavily in its technology and moved most of its banking products onto one digital cloud platform. This -- in combination with its new scale in attractive banking markets -- is why management believes its deposit base is going to perform better over time.

Given the higher interest rate environment, most banks generated good positive operating leverage in 2022, which is when revenue grows faster than expenses. Most banks are also expecting to do that in 2023.

Truist had slightly positive operating leverage for the full year, but it was nothing that special. However, on a quarterly basis, Truist began to see its operating leverage accelerate, generating 2.6% of positive operating leverage in the third quarter and 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Truist is aiming for about 2% of positive operating leverage or more this year.

That's significantly higher than the operating leverage the bank just had in 2022, but it doesn't stand out in its peer group. PNC Financial (PNC 0.02%) looks like it very well could generate 4% positive operating leverage this year , while Citizens Financial Group (CFG -1.68%) is also expecting 4% or 5% of operating leverage.