Huntington Bank, which recently closed on the $1.9 billion deal for Dallas-based Veritex Community Bank, announced Monday it will expand its Texas presence with the acquisition of Texas- and Mississippi-based Cadence Bank for $7.4 billion.
Cadence, which has $53 billion in assets, has dual headquarters in Houston and Tupelo, Mississippi. The bank has about 390 branches and 1 million customers across Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Missouri and Tennessee, including two loan production offices in Fort Worth.
With the addition of Cadence, Columbus, Ohio-based Huntington, in conjunction with the recently closed acquisition of Veritex Community Bank, will have the fifth-largest deposit market share in Dallas, the fifth-largest deposit market share in Houston, and the eighth-largest deposit market share across the Lone Star State.
The Cadence acquisition follows several other big banking mergers among regional banks. In a deal valued at $10.9 billion, Dallas-based regional lender Comerica Bank announced earlier this month it is being acquired by Cincinnati, Ohio-based Fifth Third Bank which has aggressive goals for Texas. That deal will create a top-tier U.S. bank with combined assets of about $288 billion.
According to Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at financial website Bankrate, many of these mergers are coming after the Trump administration signaled a friendly environment for bank mergers.
“Some of these mergers have come about after the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency came out with essentially a ruling that would translate into an expedited review for bank deals,” he said. “If you’re operating in that space, you’re going to look at that favorably and realize that you may not be facing the same regulatory risk, at least with respect to an acquisition or merger, that you would have under the previous regime.”
That also could significantly lower merger and acquisition costs, if the process is speeded up, he said.
The Cadence acquisition represents the next phase of growth for Huntington, said Steve Steinour, chairman, president and CEO of Huntington Bancshares in a news release.
“This partnership will extend the reach of our full franchise to 21 states — stretching from the midwest to the south to Texas — and into new, high-growth markets for which we have a powerful playbook,” he said.
The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals. Cadence Bank teams and branches will operate under the Huntington Bank name and brand following the acquisition.
Bob Francis is business editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at bob.francis@fortworthreport.org.
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