Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN) executives told investors that the company entered 2026 with what it described as strong momentum, pointing to 2025 financial performance, recent acquisitions, and an expanded footprint following the closing of its partnership with Cadence.
Speaking at an investor event, Chairman and CEO Steve Steinour said Huntington’s “super-regional bank model” is designed to combine locally led regional teams with national commercial and specialty businesses. He highlighted four themes: a scalable operating model across 21 regional markets, “powerful organic growth,” a track record of integrating partners, and what management called a “flywheel for value creation” as the bank expands and deploys more capabilities in new markets.
2025 results and operating model
With the Cadence partnership, Steinour said Huntington’s consumer and regional bank franchise now operates in 21 states and adds “substantial scale in Texas.” He also described national businesses that include auto and RV/marine lending, a commercial bank with 15 specialty verticals, a top-five position in equipment finance, and expanding services in capital markets and payments.
Integration progress: Veritex and Cadence
Management focused heavily on its integration execution. Steinour said Huntington completed the full systems conversion for Veritex “three weeks ago” with no disruption, and that it took 187 days from announcement to systems migration. He added that the company expects to reach the full run-rate cost synergies for Veritex by the second quarter of 2026, while early revenue synergies are beginning to emerge as Huntington products and lending capacity are introduced to new customers.
On Cadence, Steinour said the merger closed 10 days prior to the event and that integration work began even before closing. He said the bank worked with Cadence leadership, including Dan Rollins and his team, on talent decisions and has been advancing system and data work, with cost-synergy realization “already well underway.”
Texas expansion and growth strategy
Steinour described Texas as a major strategic focus, saying Huntington’s combined presence through Cadence and Veritex provides scale and density in a state he called one of the most dynamic economies in the U.S. He cited fourth-quarter 2025 year-over-year growth of 23% in Texas for Huntington on a standalone basis, while Cadence generated 17% growth over the same period.
Management said it has already started deploying its “growth playbook” in Texas, including expanding loan and deposit relationships, accelerating commercial banking, launching digital customer acquisition for consumers and small businesses, and increasing penetration of fee services such as payments, wealth, and capital markets.
Updated purchase accounting marks and 2027 outlook
CFO Zach Wasserman said that after closing Cadence and completing a bottom-up fair value analysis, the loan rate marks produced a “meaningfully lower” interest rate discount than previously estimated. At diligence, Huntington expected about $1.05 billion in loan mark discounts; that estimate fell to just over $500 million.
As a result, Wasserman said estimated tangible book value per share dilution from the Cadence partnership is now 4.8%, compared with the original 7% estimate, with the same earn-back period. He also said the lower loan mark means purchase accounting accretion (PAA) will be lower but spread over a longer period, which he characterized as improving consistency and earnings quality.
Huntington reiterated its expectation of delivering 2027 earnings per share of $1.90 to $1.93 and said it expects 2027 revenue of approximately $12.6 billion. Wasserman noted that expected PAA contribution to the income statement is now about $100 million, down from roughly $400 million previously anticipated. He said that, in isolation, this would have reduced the prior $2.00 2027 EPS outlook shared in October to about $1.89, but the company expects core performance, fee income from its Janney acquisition, net revenue synergies, and planned share repurchases to offset part of the change.
Synergies, investments, and capital return
Wasserman said Huntington targets at least one percentage point of baseline expense reduction annually and reinvests most of the savings into growth initiatives. He said this reengineering effort has reduced baseline operating costs by an average of 1.3% per year since 2019, creating $1.4 billion of cumulative expense savings and a five-percentage-point reduction in the baseline expense-to-revenue ratio. Over the same period, he said investments grew at more than a 20% compound annual growth rate.
For the Veritex and Cadence partnerships together, management said total cost synergies are expected to be $435 million at a full annual run rate:
- Veritex: $70 million annual run rate, expected to be reached next quarter
- Cadence: $365 million annual run rate, expected by the fourth quarter of 2026
Wasserman said the cost synergies are projected to reduce 2026 operating expenses by approximately $340 million, with just under an additional $100 million of benefit into 2027. On revenue, he said the bank expects cumulative revenue synergies to reach $500 million over the next three years, with a $300 million run rate in 2028.
Discussing 2026, management outlined expectations for net interest income and fee growth, including an estimated $110 million of purchase accounting accretion and $50 million to $75 million of revenue synergies in 2026. Wasserman said the company intends to accelerate an incremental $30 million to $40 million of additional investment in 2026—on top of prior plans—to help drive revenue growth into 2027 and beyond.
On capital return, Wasserman said Huntington expects about $200 million of share repurchases in 2026, roughly $50 million per quarter, and expects a cumulative 2% to 3% reduction in share count over 2026 and 2027 as it moves toward a 9.5% adjusted CET1 target.
In the Q&A, Steinour said Huntington’s priority remains driving core growth and that the bank is not looking to expand beyond its current 21-state footprint or pursue a merger of equals. He said future partnerships would need to meet cultural, strategic, and financial criteria, while emphasizing management’s confidence in integration execution and the bank’s longer-term growth outlook.
About Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN)
Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ: HBAN) is a bank holding company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, that provides a broad range of banking and financial services through its principal subsidiary, Huntington National Bank. The company’s operations are centered on retail and commercial banking, and it serves individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses, and institutional customers.
Huntington’s product offerings include traditional deposit and lending products, consumer and commercial loans, mortgage origination and servicing, auto financing, and business banking solutions.
