Ally bank is on a hiring kick. Here’s how it’s making changes to stand out in Charlotte
-14.jpg "Earlier this summer, Ally moved in as the anchor tenant of a 26-story tower on Tryon Street. It’s one of multiple ways the bank is working to grow its Charlotte presence.")
Ally Financial looks a little different from some of Charlotte’s biggest banks: It has auto lending roots, a younger customer base and no physical branches.
That hasn’t stopped the digital-only bank from growing in the city. In the past year alone, Ally has added hundreds of local employees and moved into a 26-story tower on Tryon Street.
It’s a sign of broader shifts in Charlotte’s banking industry, with a number of smaller players working to expand their footprint in the city.
In a recent interview with the Observer, Chief Information, Data and Digital Officer Sathish Muthukrishnan talked about Ally’s plans in Charlotte and how the Detroit-based bank plans to stand out in the crowded local banking scene.
Growth in Charlotte
In many ways, Charlotte is a perfect fit for Ally, Muthukrishnan said.
“I feel like I cannot separate Charlotte and Ally, they complement each other so well,” he said.
He cited the city’s “tremendous” growth in the financial sector, its broad talent pool for both tech and finance, and its Southern charm — something that stood out to him as a Phoenix transplant.
The bank had grown significantly in the area, making about 550 external hires last year. Ally has been in the Charlotte market since 2009.
And Ally is in the middle of another company-wide hiring push, adding more than 900 employees across the company. That includes more than 350 open positions in Charlotte, the bank said.
With more than 2,200 employees, Ally’s Charlotte hub is already larger than its Detroit headquarters. The company has about 10,000 total workers across the company.
The bank also has a few of its C-suite executives based here, including Muthukrishnan and CFO Jennifer LaClair.
A growing tech team
A growing financial services industry in Charlotte also means there’s a lot of local competition for customers, Muthukrishnan said.
“I’d be naive to say that I don’t consider the big banks as competition... Not only the big banks, but the fintech (firms), from the tech side.”
Ally is still much smaller than some of Charlotte’s major banks. The bank had about $142.3 billion in total deposits in June 2021, according to FDIC data. By comparison, Bank of America was one of the country’s largest with nearly $1.9 trillion.
In the digital age, Muthukrishnan said, customers have come to expect the same seamlessness from online banking as they do from other big tech firms.
“Their expectations are through the roof, and it’s not misplaced,” he said. “It’s expecting every company to be a technology company that provides an experience like an Amazon.”
Ally is building out its tech team to stay ahead, he said. Positions on the technology team will account for more than half of the bank’s 900 new hires.
“There is a common understanding that technology is the center of execution,” Muthukrishnan said.
The bank doesn’t limit its search for talent to the finance sector, he said. Employees have come from startups, big banks and even the healthcare industry or tech companies like Honeywell.
“The technology (skills) that people are learning (in those positions) are easily transferable to a company like Ally, because we use technology in everything that we do,” Muthukrishnan said.
Banking competition heats up
Ally is one of several new banks to build out their presence in Charlotte over the past several years.
The city has long been dominated by Bank of America and Wells Fargo. But the definition of “banktown” has broadened in recent years as new financial services firms flock to the city.
U.S. Bank employs about 950 workers here for its back office operations and has been adding branches throughout the city. Regions now has its investment banking operation based in Charlotte.
And JP Morgan made one of its first forays into North Carolina with a branch across from the Bank of America building, with more on the way.
The expansions have gone beyond traditional banks to include fintech firms like Robinhood, which is investing nearly $11.7 million in a Charlotte office. And just last week, digital-only Varo Bank announced it had selected Charlotte for its East Coast hub.
All that growth has made the city a hub for talent in the financial sector, said Nathan Stovall, principal analyst at S&P Global.
“If you know there’s a big financial services community you’re more likely to locate here because there’s a pool of talent,” Stovall said. “You kind of have a built-in workforce here.”
That’s a big draw for firms like Ally, Muthukrishnan said.
“You can’t walk past a hallway (in uptown) without finding somebody that is embedded in financial services, whichever building you’re walking in,” he said.
But the city holds an appeal beyond the business landscape, said Muthukrishnan, who moved to Charlotte this summer.
He’s looking forward to putting down roots in the city. Charlotteans can expect Ally to do the same, he said.
“We’re looking forward to being part of the Charlotte growth story,” Muthukrishnan said. “For the (immediate) future and for years to come.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story did not have Sathish Muthukrishnan’s full title. He is Ally’s Chief Information, Data and Digital Officer. The story also was updated to reflect the current total of Ally and Bank of America deposits, and the local total of workers at US Bank.
This story was originally published September 20, 2021 at 6:30 AM.
