Another Charlotte bank boosts minimum wage. Here’s how many workers it will affect
Another bank with a significant presence in Charlotte is boosting its minimum wage.
Fifth Third Bancorp will lift its minimum hourly pay to $20 beginning July 4, the bank announced Tuesday.
It’s a 66% increase from just four years ago, when the bank’s minimum wage was $12. Fifth Third increased that pay to $15 in 2018, and then $18 the following year. The upcoming raise will impact nearly 95% of employees in branches and operations support functions like call centers, the news release said.
Look back: Ally Financial raises minimum wage to $20 an hour
At the same time, the bank will make wage adjustments to the first four job levels above the new minimum wage in July. The resulting changes will mean that more than 40% of the bank’s more than 20,000 employees will get a compensation increase this summer, Fifth Third said in the news release.
“This wage increase is simply the right thing to do,” Tim Spence, the bank’s president and upcoming CEO effective July 5, said in a statement.
The pay raise will make a “meaningful difference” in the lives of employees disproportionately impacted by rising costs of living, he added.
The changes will affect 362 workers in North and South Carolina, according to the bank.
Fifth Third, based in Cincinnati, has 460 employees in Charlotte and 47 branches in the area. It’s the fourth largest bank here by deposits, behind Bank of America, Truist and Wells Fargo. It holds 1.8% of deposits in the metro area.
It’s not the first Charlotte bank to increase its minimum pay in the last year.
Ally Financial also increased its minimum wage to $20 from $17 in September. Bank of America lifted its minimum to $21 in October, part of its plan to reach a $25 minimum wage by 2025.
Fifth Third has been quickly expanding its retail presence in Charlotte, adding several local branches last year. Last fall, the bank announced it would invest $20 million in Charlotte’s historic West End to support the neighborhood’s economic revitalization.
This story was originally published April 20, 2022 at 11:42 AM.
