Good morning. Huntington Bancshares Inc. is marking its 160th year by showing that traditional branch banking and digital growth can advance together, not at each other’s expense.

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Founded in 1866, Huntington (No. 351 on the Fortune 500) operates more than 1,000 branches nationwide and is leaning into expansion. CFO Zachary Wasserman described 2026 as a “major” strategic year, with a focus on integrating recent partnerships while keeping core businesses growing faster than the industry.

A visible piece of that strategy is the Southeast build-out. “Our expectation is opening one branch almost every two weeks this year in North Carolina and South Carolina,” Wasserman said.

Huntington opened five branches across the two states in 2025 and plans roughly 24 more this year, putting it on track for about 55 locations by the end of 2027. Beyond physical expansion, the bank views each new branch as a talent opportunity. “We’re putting a major organizational focus around this, and the results have been encouraging,” Wasserman said.

The rollout has been supported by heavy pre-launch marketing, with many branches surpassing full-year deposit targets before opening, he added.

At the same time, Huntington has become increasingly digital-first in new customer acquisition. The bank now brings in more customers digitally than through branches—an approach Wasserman described as “very unusual” for an institution of its size. Most new relationships now begin online, even if customers later turn to branches for more complex needs.

Crucially, the digital and physical footprints overlap. About 80% of new digital customers live within five miles of a Huntington branch, underscoring that local presence still matters even when accounts are opened online, Wasserman said. The bank is using that proximity to deepen relationships and drive growth in higher-value businesses such as commercial payments, wealth management and capital markets, he said.

Huntington reported on Thursday solid fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 results, driven by loan and deposit growth, higher fee income, improving margins and strong credit quality. Fourth-quarter EPS was $0.30, or $0.37 on an adjusted basis, up 9% year over year and ahead of estimates. Goldman Sachs reiterated its buy rating and $21 price target on the stock following what it called a “decent quarter and mixed outlook.”

Behind the branch and digital push is a broader integration agenda. Wasserman said Huntington is “well down the track” on integrating two recently announced bank partnerships—its merger with Veritex Holdings and a definitive agreement to acquire Cadence Bank. The bank is applying lessons from the Veritex deal, including early leadership decisions and clear communication around systems conversions, to retain employees and customers during transitions.

Wasserman framed Huntington’s strategy as a long-term effort to win market share through steady, multi-year investment rather than stop-start growth cycles. Consistent spending on branches, digital platforms and specialized businesses, he said, is key to fully realizing the benefits of the bank’s expansion over time.

Have a good weekend.

Sheryl Estrada

sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

Leaderboard

CFO moves this week:

Josh Jepsen was appointed CFO of Honeywell Aerospace, effective February 23, which will become an independent, publicly traded company following its planned spin-off from Honeywell in the second half of 2026. The company will be headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, and will trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "HONA." Jepsen is currently SVP and CFO of Deere & Company. Before this role, he held senior positions across finance, investor relations, and accounting at Deere.

Patrick O’Connell, CFO of AMC Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: AMCX), will be departing the company to pursue an opportunity outside of the media industry. O’Connell will remain with AMC Networks through March and participate in the company’s 2025 fourth quarter and year-end earnings call. The company has initiated a search for O’Connell’s successor.

Hugo Doetsch was appointed CFO of AuditBoard, a governance, risk, and compliance platform. Doetsch brings over two decades of financial leadership and strategic operating experience to AuditBoard. Most recently, he served as CFO at symplr, an enterprise health care operations software provider. Before that, he was CFO at NetDocuments, a cloud-based content management platform. Doetsch also held senior leadership roles at Ping Identity, where he assisted the company in a 2019 initial public offering.

Linda LaGorga will step down as CFO of Entegris, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENTG), an advanced materials science provider, effective Feb. 28. Effective March 1. Mike Sauer, Entegris’ VP, controller and chief accounting officer, will assume the role of interim CFO, in addition to maintaining the responsibilities of his current role. LaGorga will serve as a senior advisor to Entegris through May 15.

After 160 years, Huntington Bancshares is powering digital growth—by opening a branch almost every 2 weeks, says CFO