Fortune seekers: regional banks based outside the state look to snag share.

• Author: Dykes, David
• Position: NC BANKING

The banking leaderboard in North Carolina reads like a who's who of national financial institutions: Bank of America, BB&T, First Citizens Bank & Trust and Wells Fargo, which have deep roots in the state.

But bigger banks based outside North Carolina also are competing aggressively to attract deposits, loans and other services in the ninth-most populous state--and one of the fastest-growing with more than 10 million people and deposits in excess of $347 billion.

Banks that made the biggest acquisitions in North Carolina in the last year are smaller companies. Pennsylvania-based F.N.B. Corp., the nation's 75th-largest bank, bought Raleigh-based Yadkin Financial for $1.4 billion, while Nashville-based

Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc. is acquiring High Point-based BNC Bancorp for $1.9 billion, creating a $20 billion institution. The biggest deal, announced in early May, was First National Horizon Corp.'s purchase of Charlotte-based Capital Bank Financial for $2.2 billion. Memphis-based First National will have about $40 billion in assets.

To understand how the out-of-state banks distinguish themselves, Business North Carolina interviewed executives of several key companies.

SUNTRUST BANK

DAVID STEVENS, PRESIDENT, CAROLINAS DIVISION

Atlanta-based SunTrust Banks Inc. paid about $7 billion to enter North Carolina in 2005, buying the parent company of Durham-based Central Carolina Bank after outbidding Fifth Third, according to press reports at the time. The deal came three years after Winston-Salem's Wachovia Corp. spurned SunTrust's takeover bid, opting to merge with First Union Corp. Timing of the CCB purchase wasn't great, with the 2007-09 recession sending bank stocks plunging.

A dozen years later, SunTrust is again highly profitable, while North Carolina remains a vital state with 144 branches, 1,400 employees, 358,000 consumer clients and nearly 50,000 business clients. It ranks sixth in deposit market share.

"We continue to invest in the state, both in terms of adding talent and investing in infrastructure and buildings," says David Stevens, Carolinas division president since 2014- It offers the gamut of banking services for small businesses to Fortune 500 companies. The bank's regional headquarters in Charlotte is one of the few cities where all lines of business are under one roof, Stevens says. A similar approach is planned for Raleigh.

SunTrust's emphasis is serving as "more strategic advisers to our clients" rather than promoting specific products, he says. SunTrust has called on industry specialists to partner with relationship managers, a client's primary contact. "It's a game changer for us," Stevens said. "We work together as one team across all of the lines of business very seamlessly."

HEADQUARTERS: ATLANTA

$206B ASSETS, AS OF MARCH 31

144 N.C. BRANCHES

1398 U.S. BRANCHES

12 NATIONAL RANK

$1.9B 2016 NET INCOME

FIRST NATIONAL BANK

VINCENT DELIE JR., PRESIDENT AND CEO

No offense to the Northeast, but North Carolina's growth makes it a more enticing place to expand. That was a key factor in F.N.B. Corp.'s $1.4 billion acquisition of Raleigh-based Yadkin Financial Corp. in March. "We've been operating in areas where there hasn't been significant growth," says Vincent Delie Jr., CEO of the Pittsburgh-based bank. "Now we have 190,000 new prospects to pursue," he says, citing the middle-market companies in the Carolinas.

Six weeks after the merger closed, F.N.B. had drummed up twice as much potential business as Yadkin staffers had previously recorded, Delie says. That's a credit to F.N.B.'s larger size and increased confidence by lenders and...