Huntington Bank understands the former FirstMerit Bank’s long history and support of the Akron community — and the merged bank will have the same commitment, its leader said in an Akron Roundtable address Thursday.
“We’re very, very cognizant of the support FirstMerit has had in Akron for years. We embrace that,” Stephen Steinour, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Huntington Bank, said in his first large public appearance to the Akron community since the $3.4 billion acquisition of FirstMerit, which was finalized in August.
“I’m not sure what organizations hasn’t somehow been touched by FirstMerit over the years,” he said to the crowd of several hundred people. “The essence of the company remains the same. It’s community focused. We do business with consumers and small and medium businesses.”
Steinour said that while the bank’s business and scale has increased, it is still considers itself a “super community bank.”
Part of the commitment of Huntington, included in the merger agreement specifically for Akron, is the creation of the Huntington Akron Community Foundation, which will be funded with $2 million a year for 10 years — totaling $20 million.
Steinour said the first $2 million will be deposited within the month and some commitments have already been made to help the greater Akron community. That includes $250,000 toward the newly opened Battered Women’s Shelter and $60,000 toward the next phase in a downtown Akron redevelopment plan recently announced by Mayor Dan Horrigan, with a commitment to challenge other businesses to raise the other $60,000.
“We think we have an opportunity with the commitment to make a profound and sustaining difference, along with others,” Steinour said, highlighting opportunities in downtown development, health care, economic development and housing.
The foundation’s first meeting will be in January. Its president will be Nick Browning, FirstMerit’s Akron regional president for 13 years and now Huntington’s Akron regional president. Foundation board members will include two former FirstMerit board members now on the Huntington board, Gina France of Medina, J. Michael Hochschwender of Akron and Huntington board member Ann “Tanny” Crane of Columbus.
Browning said he thinks the foundation money will be a “game-changer” for Akron.
“To have these kind of resources to convene and align and the scale is great,” he said.
In a wide-ranging interview before his Roundtable appearance, Steinour said he’s committed to Akron. Since before the merger, “I’ve been in Akron more than I’ve been in any other [new] market. ... We’re invested in Akron’s future. We want to help Akron grow and we want to grow with it,” he said.
Steinour also said he’s been very impressed with the “collaborative spirit” of many of Akron’s leaders he has met.
Here are some other subjects addressed:
• Employment: Discussing prospects for new jobs and an undisclosed number of layoffs this fall, Steinour firmly said while there will be “a net layoff, we’re not trying to hide that. We’re growing.” While there have been layoff notices, many employees have been offered other jobs within Huntington.
Steinour reiterated that the bank will meet its commitment to have 1,200 employees by next year in the city of Akron. That’s the same number of First Merit employees at the time of merger, and the bank committed to meet that number within two years
He said Huntington continues to grow by several hundred jobs a year and he anticipates growth in Akron as well.
• Downtown operations: Steinour said it is still too early to discuss the future of the downtown FirstMerit buildings, including ones on Main Street. “We like the facility arrangements we have. Some will be figuring out not just a fill for 1,200, but we do intend to put more than 1,200 employees in Akron and we need surge space or flex space.”
The first building that will be full will be an operations center currently on Opportunity Parkway because it has free parking, a cafeteria, an indoor track and other established amenities, he said.
• Branch conversions: Remaining FirstMerit branches will switch over to Huntington around Feb. 19, or President’s Day weekend. Steinour said customers will be able to use their existing checks until they are finished — possibly for years — and account numbers will not be changed
“It will not be a cataclysmic event,” he said.
Consumers will be given further instructions before the conversion, but should not expect any disruption in automatic transactions or banking functions, he said.
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