U.S. banks Fifth Third and Comerica are merging to create the ninth-largest bank in the country, with the resulting company establishing a wealth and asset division that will manage assets exceeding $100 billion.
The Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bank will acquire Dallas-based Comerica in an all-stock transaction totaling $10.9 billion, pending approval by shareholders and regulators. The combined firms will create a bank with $288 billion in assets, $224 billion in deposits and $174 billion in loans.
According to a presentation for shareholders on Monday morning, the bank views its asset and wealth management division as one of its two reliable businesses generating a $1 billion “high growth recurring revenue engines” (the other being commercial payments).
According to Fifth Third CEO Tim Spence, Comerica’s “strong middle market franchise and complementary footprint” made it a natural fit, while Comerica President and CEO Curt Farmer said that joining Fifth Third “with its strengths in retail, payments and digital” would help them build on its “leading commercial franchise.”
As part of the deal, Comercia Chief Banking Officer Peter Sfezik will lead Fifth Third’s Asset and Wealth Management business (while Farmer will take on the role of vice chair).
According to Sfezik’s bio, he joined Comercia in 1999 as a relationship manager at the commercial bank, before spending over five years as a regional director of wealth management in the Texas, Florida and Arizona markets.
Sfezik then served as Texas market president and commercial bank executive officer before becoming a senior executive vice president and chief banking officer in January 2023, where he oversaw the commercial bank, retail bank, wealth management, and marketing and customer experience.
According to the shareholder presentation, the wealth and asset management division includes a “comprehensive wealth platform” including a full-service private bank, RIA platform and institutional, with $100 billion in assets under management (the company will have $750 billion in institutional assets “under care”).
After the deal closes, Fifth Third will be in 17 of the country’s fastest-growing markets, including the Southeast, Texas, Arizona and California. The bank expects to focus more than half of its retail footprint on those areas by 2030. The Comerica deal will boost Fifth Third’s middle market sales force in the Southeast by 20%, and the bank plans to open 150 financial centers in Texas by 2029.
As part of the deal, Comerica stockholders will receive 1.8663 Fifth Third shares for each Comerica share. At the close of the agreement, Fifth Third shareholders will own approximately 73% of the combined company, and Comerica shareholders will own approximately 27%. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026.
