Bank of America, Huntington Complete Major Bank Acquisitions

Two major U.S. consumer banks announced Monday that they had completed previously-announced acquisitions that expanded each bank’s product lines and businesses.  Both deals were announced in late 2006, and both have final price tags of $3.3 billion.

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) announced in November 2006 that it would be acquiring U.S. Trust Corporation, one of the largest private wealth management banks in the U.S.  Going into the merger, based on assets under management, Bank of America was the second largest manager of private wealth in the country with U.S. Trust having been the fourth-largest.  Bank of America claims in a press release Monday that the combined wealth management unit is the largest in the country.  Bank of America is already the largest retail bank in the U.S. by total deposits.

U.S. Trust was formerly the wealth management arm of brokerage house Charles Schwab.  The new division of Bank of America will be called U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management.  The Private Bank of Bank of America and its ultra wealthy extension, Family Wealth Advisors, will be rolled into the unit and claim nearly $265 billion in assets under management and over $427 billion in total client assets.

Kenneth D. Lewis, Bank of America chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement, "In completing this acquisition, we are building on our long history in private banking to better serve the needs of the country's wealthy individuals and families."

Also on Monday, Ohio-based Huntington Bancshares (Nasdaq: HBAN) announced it had completed its merger with mid-West focused retail bank Sky Financial Group, also based in Ohio.

Huntington’s chairman and CEO, Thomas E. Hoaglin, said that the combined bank will be the 24th-largest in the U.S., with assets over $50 billion.  In addition, the bank will be the #3 retail bank in Ohio based on deposits, “with #1 positions in the Columbus, Toledo, Canton, and Youngstown markets, and a much stronger #5 position in the Cleveland area.”  Sky gives the bank an additional presence in Indianapolis, where it will be the third largest bank based on deposits and an entry into the Western Pennsylvania market.  In total, the merged bank will have 756 branches and 1,384 ATMs in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, although some branches will be consolidated in the merger integration.

The Huntington-Sky merger was not without controversy.  U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) asked the Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank to hold hearings concerning the merger citing the community impact of branch consolidation.  The Federal Reserve, however, approved the merger without regard to Kucinich's requests.