Truist just tapped a new CEO. We look back at key moments for the Charlotte bank
On Monday, Truist named its third CEO in seven years to lead the Charlotte-based bank — and it hired the first outsider to lead the company.
Truist ranks ninth by assets in the U.S. with $549 billion. Michael Lyons will begin leading the company that employs about 40,000 workers on Sept. 1. Truist has about 3,000 workers in Charlotte.
Here are some key dates to know about Truist.
February 2019: BB&T and SunTrust merger announced
In February 2019, Winston-Salem-based BB&T and Atlanta-based SunTrust banks announced their $66 billion merger deal to form what would become Truist.
The new bank, which would be headquartered in Charlotte, bolstered the city’s banking hub status after losing other bank headquarters in the years leading up to the deal. Bank of America was the only bank headquartered in Charlotte in early 2019; San Francisco-based Wells Fargo has its largest employment hub in Charlotte.
June 2019: A new bank name
Following the merger announcement, the banks revealed its new name: Truist. The June 2019 announcement underscored the banks’ reputations for trust, transparency and honesty, BB&T chief digital client experience officer Dontá Wilson told The Charlotte Observer at the time.
The same month, Winston-Salem-based Truliant Federal Credit Union filed a lawsuit for trademark infringement, arguing that the name Truist was “clear and intentional appropriation” of its brand. A year later, in July 2020, Truist settled with Truliant, reaching an undisclosed agreement.
July 2019: A congressional hearing over the BB&T, SunTrust merger
As the next step toward merging BB&T and SunTrust, executives appeared in an almost three-hour Congressional hearing in July 2019. Former BB&T CEO Kelly King and former SunTrust CEO Bill Rogers argued that the new bank wouldn’t be too big to succeed.
December 2019: The finalized merger for Truist
The merger was finalized. It was the largest bank merger since the 2008 financial crisis. Less than a week later, Truist bought its new headquarters in uptown Charlotte for $455.5 million at 214 North Tryon St.
King, the former CEO of BB&T, continued serving as Truist CEO as the company entered this transition period.
April 2020: Hundreds of Truist job cuts
During the first quarter, Truist cut 800 jobs because of the merger. While the reductions were shared in a presentation of its quarterly earnings report, the bank said the changes happened “early” in the quarter.
According to the bank, the eliminated positions were “duplicate, non-client-facing roles” in management, support and administrative roles.
May 2020: COVID relief for Truist
After initially announcing a $25 million donation to COVID relief efforts in March 2020, Truist doubled its contribution to $50 million. Donation recipients included the CDC Foundation, the Community Education Alliance and various small businesses.
Internally, Truist employees making less than $100,000 were given a $1,200 pre-tax bonus, extra paid leave and more benefits in March.
September 2021: Truist names new CEO
In September 2021, Truist announced that former SunTrust CEO Bill Rogers would replace King as CEO. The leaders agreed on this change as part of merger negotiations in 2019. King served as chairman of the board until retiring in March 2022.
October 2021: Branch closure plans and a new app
By October 2021, Truist had closed 413 branches. As a part of its consolidation mission, the bank planned to shutter 800 total locations by the end of its first quarter of 2022.
At the time, Truist had brought 7 million customers to its digital platform, with a new mobile banking app and online banking platform set to launch by the end of 2021.
September 2022: Truist using artificial intelligence
Truist launched its AI-enhanced virtual assistant, Truist Assist, in its mobile banking app and online banking platform in September 2022. The assistant, which was made available to personal banking clients, helps respond to questions and gives financial information with natural-language processing and natural-language understanding.
September 2023: Cuts in expenses and workforce
In an effort to cut $750 million in expenses, Truist announced that it would make “sizable reductions” to its workforce. Without specific details about who would be laid off, Rogers shared that the changes would occur between the third quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024.
July 2024: Technology department eliminations
As restructuring continued into 2024, an unspecified number of technology department jobs were planned to be cut over a three-to-four month period.
August 2024: Federal fines
After Truist employees sent messages on unapproved platforms including WhatsApp, the bank was charged over $8 million in penalties. While federal regulators reduced the bank’s fee for self-reporting the violations, Truist was required to pay $5.5 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission and $3 million to the Commodity Future Trading Commission.
November 2024: Western North Carolina support
Following Hurricane Helene, Truist announced a three-year plan dedicating $725 million to “support and sustain hurricane recovery and resiliency,” according to the bank’s website. The initiative, called Truist Cares for Western North Carolina, was established to help housing, small business and infrastructure efforts in the affected region.
The plan included $25 million reserved for philanthropic grants to nonprofits and a challenge of 10,000 volunteer hours among Truist employees.
August 2025: The Truist five-year plan
In August 2025, the bank announced a five-year plan to expand Truist by opening 100 branches, renovating more than 300 existing branches and hiring additional advisors. The company aimed to focus on high-growth markets like Atlanta, Austin, Texas, Dallas, Miami, Orlando, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
November 2025: Work-from-home policy change at the bank
The bank informed employees that they were required to return to the office five days a week starting in early January 2026. After the COVID pandemic popularized the work-from-home format, this change affected more than 3,000 local employees.
Before this change, hybrid employees were required to work in the office four days a week, with investment banking workers required to be in the office five days a week.
June 2026: Truist names the company’s third CEO
On Monday, June 15, Truist announced Lyons as its new CEO. Lyons resigned as CEO of Fiserv Inc., a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based payments and financial services technology company, after 18 months.
He will start at Truist on Sept. 1, and current CEO Rogers will become executive chair. Rogers will retire in April 2027.