January 8, 2026 • 6 mins
Comerica, Fifth Third shareholders back merger
Comerica shareholders ignored an activist investor’s urging to reject the deal, with 97% of votes cast in favor of the bank’s acquisition by Fifth Third.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, Brian Thomas, it's not Money Monday. It is well Thursday,
but I have Brian James from Monday mondays all Worth
Financial to talk about this interesting development research. You know
locally Fifth Third Bank is merging with co America. It's
another bank described as a middle market banking franchise, and
that's why we had Brian James on to explain what
(00:20):
this is going to mean for Fifth Third bankers, for
maybe the broader banking industry. But from my understanding, this
is going to create if it's approved, and you're going
to address the regulatory approval, but it's going to create
the ninth largest bank in the United States. Welcome back,
Brian James, and happy New Year.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
By the way, Happy New Year and Money Monday except
on a Thursday, so we're changing things up. But we'll
be back to our regular schedule programming on this coming Monday,
I assume, unless there's crazy headlines between now and then.
But yeah, so big headlines. Fifth third Bank cole America.
This was announced a few months ago. They were sniffing
around about this. The shareholders approved it yesterday earlier this week,
(00:59):
and that the as you mentioned, that's going to create
a big bank. Both of these banks were similar. You know,
for those of us in the listening area here familiar
with Fifth Third, co America is similar to fifth Third,
just mostly up in the northern area. You might have
heard the term that this is where the Detroit Tigers
play in Comerica Park, so that's where you might have
heard the term from. But in any case, co America's
shareholders are going to receive one point eight fifth Third
(01:21):
sharehold shares per co America. So this is a takeover.
Co America is going to be swallowed by Fifth Third,
and that's going to give them about a twenty percent
premium on their on the co America stock price at
the announcement. At the end of the day, fifth Third
shareholders are going to own about seventy three percent of
the combined entity. In co America shareholders we get about
a quarter of it. So it's been approved by shareholders.
(01:42):
We are still in the final regulatory approval stage, so
the government has the rubber stamp it, and but that
doesn't seem to be a huge concern that that. So
I actually worked for Fifth Third for a long time
and many of the projects we were involved in were
geared toward getting fifth Third back into the shape that
it could be to make major acquisitions like this and
(02:03):
remain competitive because in that industry, Brian Thomas, it is
acquire or be acquired.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Now, is this going to result in any name changes?
I'm guessing since fifth Third is the acquire err that
Fifth Third Banks will remain fifth Third Banks. But will
the Comerica customers be dealing with fifth third going forward?
Are they just going to leave the name the same?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Yes, so co America is going to become fifth Third.
Obviously nobody's really going to notice that here in this area,
but in the Comerica markets they'll be seeing fifth Third
broadcast everywhere. And I'm sure they're going to own more
or advertise the more minor league ballparks that seems to
be their thing over the years.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Well, I suppose this may suggest, as most mergers do,
that there are going to be some job cuts. Usually
there are you know, overlapping legal departments. I remember those days,
you know, when you merge with another company, then you've
got two legal departments. You don't need to just is
that what's going to happen? Do you anticipate? Brian?
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Oh, absolutely, that's that's the whole reason behind this, and
truly any merger in any industry, it's just a common
enemies of scale and combining operations, uh, to to reduce overlap.
So probably a bigger concern unfortunately for the Comerica employees
than than the fifth third. Uh. But sounding like at
this point it may be an opportunity here locally for
(03:15):
jobs because fifthird obviously has a massive operational presence, uh,
you know, up and up at their operational facility in Madisonville. Uh.
And I would I would expect that there's going to
be some new faces walking in those halls as as
they look to increase the number of people. And it's
really on the regulatory side because the bigger the bank is,
the more the government wants to sniff around, and you
have to have more and more, more and more people
(03:36):
putting the reporting together and those kinds of things. So uh,
not not looking really for any huge impact here. Their
course could be branch consolidations, but again that's probably not uh.
You know, there are no co America branches in this area,
so that'll be again more in the co America market
where they decided that these two across the parking lot
need to be merged into one for example.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Well, soon the branch doesn't change, is there going to
be any noticeable difference. Let's say the listeners who are
currently fifth Third, who currently bank with fifth Third? Is
this just going to be sort of seamless, there's nothing
to see here? Life goes on for the average customer.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Yeah. I think it's going to be more for the employees,
and obviously there are thousands of them here in the
Cincinnati area. But you know, I wouldn't say, as a
banking customer, which I am one, fifth Third has been
a great bank for me. I don't look for any
major changes there, just a bigger bank. And again, this
is all about acquire or be acquired, because you know,
co America made it as far as they did and
(04:31):
they got picked up. Third Or fortunately is still on
the independent side where they can kind of be the
predator not the prey.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Well, and I suppose overall with that point made it overall,
it's a good thing for Fifth Third Bank.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Yeah, it depends on your view of big business. Right.
Some people aren't going to be a fan of this
because you know, maybe you just love your Camerica branch
and now it's going to be changing a little bit,
but at the end of the day, it basically means
that the structure is still there and you know you'll
have that support going forward. It's very very much. Let's
make no mistake here, this is very much about profit
margin and the maintenance of the ability to stay competitive.
(05:08):
That's really what it's about. This is these are never
about customers. Nobody's going to walk away from a bank
merger with a better experience. This is about shareholders in
the banking industry, Brian, customers come third, The shareholders come first,
regulators come second, and then it's the customers. Spend a
lot of time there and that's frankly why I left
(05:28):
the industry.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
All right, Well, I appreciate your honesty. Money mondays Brian James.
On a Thursday, we'll call it money Thursday. Brian James,
I can't thank you enough for doing a special segment
with my listeners and me today to talk about the
impact on this. So probably you won't see much employees
with Fifth Third in CA America, maybe you'll be seeing something.
Just hold your keep your powder dry, and keep your
fingers crossed. Brian James, I wish you all the best
(05:51):
best of health. In a very Happy New Year again,
do you, sir. I look forward to our conversations going
forward this.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Year, you bet. Happy New Year to you as well,
and we will talk more about this deadline as it
continues to unwrap.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Looking forward to that. We'll talk on Monday. Take care,
Hey, Brian Thomas, it's not Money Monday. It is well Thursday,
but I have Brian James from Monday mondays all Worth
Financial to talk about this interesting development research. You know
locally Fifth Third Bank is merging with co America. It's
another bank described as a middle market banking franchise, and
that's why we had Brian James on to explain what
(00:20):
this is going to mean for Fifth Third bankers, for
maybe the broader banking industry. But from my understanding, this
is going to create if it's approved, and you're going
to address the regulatory approval, but it's going to create
the ninth largest bank in the United States. Welcome back,
Brian James, and happy New Year.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
By the way, Happy New Year and Money Monday except
on a Thursday, so we're changing things up. But we'll
be back to our regular schedule programming on this coming Monday,
I assume, unless there's crazy headlines between now and then.
But yeah, so big headlines. Fifth third Bank cole America.
This was announced a few months ago. They were sniffing
around about this. The shareholders approved it yesterday earlier this week,
(00:59):
and that the as you mentioned, that's going to create
a big bank. Both of these banks were similar. You know,
for those of us in the listening area here familiar
with Fifth Third, co America is similar to fifth Third,
just mostly up in the northern area. You might have
heard the term that this is where the Detroit Tigers
play in Comerica Park, so that's where you might have
heard the term from. But in any case, co America's
shareholders are going to receive one point eight fifth Third
(01:21):
sharehold shares per co America. So this is a takeover.
Co America is going to be swallowed by Fifth Third,
and that's going to give them about a twenty percent
premium on their on the co America stock price at
the announcement. At the end of the day, fifth Third
shareholders are going to own about seventy three percent of
the combined entity. In co America shareholders we get about
a quarter of it. So it's been approved by shareholders.
(01:42):
We are still in the final regulatory approval stage, so
the government has the rubber stamp it, and but that
doesn't seem to be a huge concern that that. So
I actually worked for Fifth Third for a long time
and many of the projects we were involved in were
geared toward getting fifth Third back into the shape that
it could be to make major acquisitions like this and
(02:03):
remain competitive because in that industry, Brian Thomas, it is
acquire or be acquired.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Now, is this going to result in any name changes?
I'm guessing since fifth Third is the acquire err that
Fifth Third Banks will remain fifth Third Banks. But will
the Comerica customers be dealing with fifth third going forward?
Are they just going to leave the name the same?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Yes, so co America is going to become fifth Third.
Obviously nobody's really going to notice that here in this area,
but in the Comerica markets they'll be seeing fifth Third
broadcast everywhere. And I'm sure they're going to own more
or advertise the more minor league ballparks that seems to
be their thing over the years.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Well, I suppose this may suggest, as most mergers do,
that there are going to be some job cuts. Usually
there are you know, overlapping legal departments. I remember those days,
you know, when you merge with another company, then you've
got two legal departments. You don't need to just is
that what's going to happen? Do you anticipate? Brian?
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Oh, absolutely, that's that's the whole reason behind this, and
truly any merger in any industry, it's just a common
enemies of scale and combining operations, uh, to to reduce overlap.
So probably a bigger concern unfortunately for the Comerica employees
than than the fifth third. Uh. But sounding like at
this point it may be an opportunity here locally for
(03:15):
jobs because fifthird obviously has a massive operational presence, uh,
you know, up and up at their operational facility in Madisonville. Uh.
And I would I would expect that there's going to
be some new faces walking in those halls as as
they look to increase the number of people. And it's
really on the regulatory side because the bigger the bank is,
the more the government wants to sniff around, and you
have to have more and more, more and more people
(03:36):
putting the reporting together and those kinds of things. So uh,
not not looking really for any huge impact here. Their
course could be branch consolidations, but again that's probably not uh.
You know, there are no co America branches in this area,
so that'll be again more in the co America market
where they decided that these two across the parking lot
need to be merged into one for example.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Well, soon the branch doesn't change, is there going to
be any noticeable difference. Let's say the listeners who are
currently fifth Third, who currently bank with fifth Third? Is
this just going to be sort of seamless, there's nothing
to see here? Life goes on for the average customer.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Yeah. I think it's going to be more for the employees,
and obviously there are thousands of them here in the
Cincinnati area. But you know, I wouldn't say, as a
banking customer, which I am one, fifth Third has been
a great bank for me. I don't look for any
major changes there, just a bigger bank. And again, this
is all about acquire or be acquired, because you know,
co America made it as far as they did and
(04:31):
they got picked up. Third Or fortunately is still on
the independent side where they can kind of be the
predator not the prey.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Well, and I suppose overall with that point made it overall,
it's a good thing for Fifth Third Bank.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Yeah, it depends on your view of big business. Right.
Some people aren't going to be a fan of this
because you know, maybe you just love your Camerica branch
and now it's going to be changing a little bit,
but at the end of the day, it basically means
that the structure is still there and you know you'll
have that support going forward. It's very very much. Let's
make no mistake here, this is very much about profit
margin and the maintenance of the ability to stay competitive.
(05:08):
That's really what it's about. This is these are never
about customers. Nobody's going to walk away from a bank
merger with a better experience. This is about shareholders in
the banking industry, Brian, customers come third, The shareholders come first,
regulators come second, and then it's the customers. Spend a
lot of time there and that's frankly why I left
(05:28):
the industry.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
All right, Well, I appreciate your honesty. Money mondays Brian James.
On a Thursday, we'll call it money Thursday. Brian James,
I can't thank you enough for doing a special segment
with my listeners and me today to talk about the
impact on this. So probably you won't see much employees
with Fifth Third in CA America, maybe you'll be seeing something.
Just hold your keep your powder dry, and keep your
fingers crossed. Brian James, I wish you all the best
(05:51):
best of health. In a very Happy New Year again,
do you, sir. I look forward to our conversations going
forward this.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Year, you bet. Happy New Year to you as well,
and we will talk more about this deadline as it
continues to unwrap.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Looking forward to that. We'll talk on Monday. Take care,
Brian Thomas News
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