Huntington to close 198 branches in TCF acquisition

Huntington Bancshares Inc. plans to close 198 branches as a part of its acquisition of TCF Financial Corp., equivalent to about 40% of TCF's current branch count.

The closures will be heavily weighted toward Michigan and will allow Huntington "to cycle out of the in-store branches that we have with Meijer Inc.," Chairman, President and CEO Stephen Steinour said on a conference call on the bank's fourth-quarter 2020 results.

"We've been well served by the in-store branches in the past," Steinour said, but the pandemic has accelerated shifts in customer behavior, including increased use of delivery of groceries and household goods.

"[Physical foot] traffic is down and preference for doing banking activities in the in-stores is changing a bit," he said.

Huntington is committed to another in-store arrangement it has with Giant Eagle Inc. for the next several years, then plans to assess TCF's partners as it moves forward.

"We see very, very strong performance in the TCF in-stores, which are in even denser metropolitan areas than we have with our two partners," Steinour added.

Huntington is one of the largest banks in the country in terms of deposits at in-store branches but has been pruning its network along with peers.

People's United Financial Inc. announced Jan. 21 that it decided not to renew its in-store branch contracts with The Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. LLC. People's United operates 140 branches at Stop & Shop locations in Connecticut and New York. The bank also cited the shift toward delivery and curbside pickup and a decrease in foot traffic inside stores.