In December 2019, BB&T Corp. completed its $28.2 billion acquisition of SunTrust Banks Inc. and created Truist, the seventh largest U.S. retail bank with approximately $518 billion in assets as of March 31.
Truist likely will incur around $1.8 billion in incremental operating expenses through next year, the company said, part of which will cover technology costs such as for IT systems and professional services.
As Mr. Case and other bank officials have been deciding which technology systems to keep from each legacy bank, and how to reduce costs, they have also been working to implement new practices and IT infrastructure that would help enable innovation. Innovation entails rapidly coming up with new products, services and experiences, both internal- and external-facing, in a way that embraces learning from feedback, he said.
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“The merger allowed for two large banks … to put our systems together, create opportunities, look for optimization, and then look for opportunities to reinvest that back into innovation,” said Mr. Case, previously CIO at SunTrust. “And at the same time, we’re developing that muscle memory on how to do innovation.”
The Wall Street Journal reported in early 2020 that Truist was behind on achieving expected cost cuts for that year, but the bank said that it expected to fully realize its total anticipated cost savings of $1.6 billion by its original target of 2022. Mr. Case said that the company is on track to complete its IT integration in the first half of 2022, which will help set the stage for innovation.
“I think that we do need to get through the merger successfully. I believe we will. We’re on a good path there,” Mr. Case said.
The bank’s Innovation and Technology Center is slated to open later this year at Truist headquarters in Charlotte, N.C. The center will serve as a factory of sorts, Mr. Case said, with a cross-functional team approach to developing new products, services and digital experiences for customers with their involvement.