RankingBanking 26 Digital - Flipbook - Page 28
26
Wells says his team has been “blown away” by
the onboarding process. He recently sent two new
hires — a middle market banker and a private
SouthState’s Low-Cost
Deposit Franchise
banker — to an orientation in Houston tailored
Source: SouthState Bank Corp., 2nd quarter 2026
earnings presentation
North Carolina, and she noticed differences in how
for revenue producers. The private banker also
visited her counterparts in Atlanta and Charlotte,
each office ran. “That’s the beauty of the SouthState model,” says Wells. “They allow division
presidents to build models within their division
that best fit the talents of their team and the
$56B
Deposits
1.4M
Deposit
Accounts
needs of their market.”
Sustaining the Model
The Southeastern U.S. has grown increasingly
competitive as more banks expand into the region
through branching and M&A. “There’s going to
$40k
Average
Balance
1.76%
COSTOF
DEPOSITS
be a lot of disruption,” says Murray. “As we were
planning strategically for 2026, we said, ‘We’re
going to try to grow organically. We’re not interested in doing another M&A deal anytime soon.’”
Despite the more than 70 mergers that built
present-day SouthState, dealmaking could be in
the rearview mirror. And closing in on $69 billion
in assets, fewer targets make sense for SouthState
these days. “It doesn’t make a lot of sense for
As division president, Wells spent several weeks
us to go buy a sub-$5 billion bank when we can
on the road visiting other markets after he was
grow a $5 billion bank in the next nine months,”
hired; he was learning along with four division
notes Brooks, the former Independent CEO and
heads that joined with the Independent acquisition.
current SouthState director. More regional banks
SouthState takes cultural integration seriously.
have signaled an emphasis on organic growth,
According to Young, the bank’s Florida division
says Scouten, because investors aren’t rewarding
leader moved to Dallas with his wife for 18
M&A. “Those stocks have not traded well, South-
months to answer questions and clear up misun-
State included,” he says, “even though it’s hard
derstandings with acquired Independent staff; he
to argue that the [Independent] deal wasn’t just a
was later joined by presidents and relationship
home run.”
managers from other markets. “Their whole
Despite its successes, SouthState does face
job was to do nothing but to go to dinners, to
some challenges. For one, Marinac believes the
get to know each other,” Young says. During the
bank could further decrease its cost of funds
conversion, upwards of 300 frontline salespeople
and bring expenses down. And its correspondent
left the Southeast to spend two or three weeks in
banking and capital markets division, a national
the new markets.
business line, has been a drag on earnings due to
