Huntington National Bank history

Their steady growth over the years allowed for its a big expansion in 1878.

The bank was incorporated in 1905 as the Huntington National Bank of Columbus.

In 1923, Huntington purchased Columbus-based the State Savings Bank & Trust Company and the Hayden-Clinton National Bank of Columbus, swelling its capital base.

Upon further growth Huntington Bank opened its first branch office in 1958.

In 1962, Huntington acquired both First National Bank of Grove City and The People's Bank of Canal Winchester.

Noted for his emphasis on loyalty, Stevenson is recorded in company annals as having told a colleague, "Run the place as though you owned it, but never fool yourself into thinking that you do." Clair E. Fultz assumed Stevenson's duties as president in 1963.

By 1965, Huntington's trust division had grown so large that a separate building, connected to the main bank by an underground tunnel, was created to separately house that operation.

1966 marked Huntington's 100th anniversary.

In 1967, Huntington Bancshares acquired the Washington Court House-based The Washington Savings Bank.

In 1969, it acquired the Ashland-based Farmers Bank.

In 1970, it also acquired the Bowling Green-based The Bank of Wood County Company, the Toledo-based The Lucas County State Bank, and Lagonda National Bank of Springfield.

Sofia, a native of Lebanon, came to the United States as a teenager and joined Huntington’s start-up international division in 1971.

In 1972, it acquired The First National Bank of Wadsworth and The First National Bank of Kenton, also establishing the first 24-hour, fully automated banking office.

Under the direction of a new president, Arthur D. Herrmann, who took office in 1975, Bancshares created new financial services divisions to place under its corporate umbrella.

In 1976, The Huntington Mortgage Company formed as a subsidiary of Huntington Bancshares with The Pickerington Bank being merged into the bank.

In 1977, Huntington Bancshares acquired The Bellefontaine National Bank, The Central National Bank of London, and Columbus-based The Franklin National Bank.

State deregulation of the banking industry in 1979 provided new opportunities for Huntington to enlarge its already ballooning organization.

In 1980, Farmers & Merchants Bank, Milford Center and The First National Bank of Burton were merged with Huntington Bancshares.

In 1981, the bank acquired Alexandria Bank Company and renamed it The Huntington State Bank, with a loan production office opening in Cincinnati.

In 1983, the bank acquired Cleveland-based Union Commerce Bank.

Wobst became chairman and chief executive in 1984, ceding his presidential duties to 40-year-old Zu-heir Sofia.

In 1986 Huntington completed four major acquisitions of banks in those three states, and also extended operations of some of its subsidiaries into Florida, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and several other states.

In 1987, Huntington Bank introduced Global Trade Access, a computer-based automated system that allowed customers who conducted international transactions to issue and receive information on their letter of credit activity.

By 1989, Huntington boasted $10.9 billion in assets and 248 offices in 11 states.

“Huntington Celebrates 125th Anniversary with Lasting Contributions,” Columbus Dispatch, February 16, 1992, Sec.

In addition, its stock price surged more than 25 percent during 1993, reflecting Huntington’s potential for future expansion.

Phillips, Cynthia, “The Huntington National Bank Introduces Visa Check Card as the New Shape of Checking,” PR Newswire, April 4, 1994.

In 1995 the bank acquired three, smaller-size privately owned banks in Florida, more than doubling its asset base in that state to some $600 million.

Huntington then pushed its Florida assets past the $1 billion mark in January 1996 when it acquired Peoples Bank of Lakeland, a commercial bank with ten offices in the Lakeland area and assets of approximately $550 million.

In 1997, the bank acquired First Michigan Bank Corporation of Holland, Michigan.

By the end of 1998, Huntington ranked as the 31st largest bank in the United States with assets of $28.3 billion and 529 branches in six states, including 187 in Ohio, 135 in Michigan, and 126 in Florida.

Furthermore, as part of an effort to free up resources to invest in operations with higher growth potential, Huntington in October 1999 sold its credit card portfolio to Chase Manhattan Bank, resulting in a net gain of $108.5 million.

According to Forbes, it is considered one of the Top 2000 Largest Public Companies in the World and one of the World’s Best Banks.

In July 2001 Hoaglin launched a major restructuring, which involved decentralizing operations, cutting the bank’s dividend by 20 percent, and closing 38 branches in the Midwest.

As part of the decentralization effort and also aiming to forge closer relationships with bank customers, Huntington repositioned itself as the “local bank with national resources.” Hoaglin’s initiatives paid off in 2002 when earnings were up sharply from the previous year.

In January 2004 Huntington reached an agreement to acquire Unizan Financial Corp., a bank based in Canton, Ohio, for $587 million in stock.

In the spring of 2005 Huntington reached separate deals with the banking regulators and the SEC. In the case of the SEC, Huntington and three current and former officers, including Hoaglin, agreed to pay more than $8.6 million in civil penalties as part of the settlement.

In March 2006, the company acquired Unizan Financial.

In 2007, the company acquired Sky Financial Group Inc.

Scheduled to open in 2008, Huntington Park was to be the new home for the Columbus Clippers, the top minor league baseball team for the New York Yankees.

On October 3, 2009, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation named Huntington as receiver of a $400 million deposit portfolio from the bank failure of Warren Bank in Warren, Michigan.

In March 2012, the bank acquired Dearborn-based Fidelity Bank.

In March 2014, the company acquired Ohio-based Camco Financial, holding company for Advantage Bank, for $97 million in stock.

In March 2015, the company acquired Michigan-based Macquarie Equipment Finance, Inc. from Sydney, Australia-based Macquarie Group for $458 million.

In January 2016, Huntington announced it would purchase Akron-based FirstMerit Corporation for $3.4 billion, making it one of the largest banks in Ohio.

However, on August 1, 2019, the merger between Chemical Bank and TCF was completed with the merged company retaining the TCF name.

On December 13, 2020, Huntington management announced a merger with Detroit-based TCF Bank.

Regulators announced on May 26, 2021 that TCF Bank would be required by the Department of Justice to sell 13 branches in Michigan.