Good morning. There’s increasing uncertainty surrounding tariffs. However, many small businesses and middle-market companies continue to seek growth opportunities.
Customers are showing resilience, said Zachary Wasserman, CFO of Huntington Bancshares Inc. (No. 375 on the Fortune 500), a $210 billion asset regional bank holding company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. Huntington operates 968 branches in 13 states.
What he’s hearing from clients is “cautious optimism” and, particularly on the business side, a lot of strong preparation to manage through an uncertain environment, Wasserman said. But for companies in industries with supply chains that are most exposed to the impact of tariffs, “there’s more trepidation,” he added.
Small businesses have less resilience in terms of their financial strength, so there’s somewhat more concern, Wasserman said. “Generally what we’re seeing in sentiment and in words is not fully being reflected in activity,” he said. “We continue to see growth. We continue to see expansion.”
The bank’s loan pipeline, a projection of the likely closings of loans, grew by about 5% in the first two weeks of Q2. “That’s an indication that there’s still an expectation for expansion and for investment on the part of commercial customers,” he said.
For Q1, Huntington reported on Thursday that net income was $527 million, marking a 26% increase year over year, while net interest income grew 11% year over year, due to strong loan and deposit growth. Average total loans increased 7% to $130.9 billion year over year. Commercial loans grew $2.2 billion or 3% from the prior quarter and 8% year over year to $5.8 billion.
For net interest income, Huntington increased its full-year 2025 guidance to a 5%-7% growth range, up from the previously stated 4%-6% range. In response to the earnings beat, its shares were up by 3% at market close on Thursday.
Opportunity amid uncertainty
During times of uncertainty, it’s critical to mitigate risk. But there’s also an opportunity to innovate and create paths to future growth. “We generally operate from a position of opportunity,” Wasserman told me.
In March 2023, three regional banks—Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), Signature Bank, and First Republic—failed in just a few days. It was triggered by SVB’s bank run, the biggest in more than a decade. It created a ripple effect across the financial industry. Global industry regulators had to step in to prevent the situation from affecting more regional banks.
But Hungtington saw the events of 2023 as an opportunity. When many banks pulled back due to liquidity, capital, or credit concerns, Huntington chose to invest for long-term growth, CEO Stephen Steinour said on Thursday’s earnings call. “We took share and accelerated new customer acquisition,” he explained. “We hired hundreds of talented bankers, added capabilities and expertise and executed very well.” This has prepared Huntington for the current uncertain times, Steinour said. “Those efforts are now helping us deliver leading deposit and loan growth,” he said.
Huntington’s “risk appetite,” is defined as aggregate, moderate to low, Wasserman said. “It’s designed to help us to live throughout an entire economic cycle,” he said. As CFO, I asked him what external factors he’ll be closely monitoring.
“I think the path of inflation and, therefore, interest rates is something we’ll need to watch very carefully,” Wasserman said. “We need to see a resolution to some of the discussions around tariffs, which are uncertain at this point, and it’s mainly the uncertainty that is causing some potential risk.”
Have a good weekend. See you on Monday.
Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
|
|
|
6 Top Scenario Planning Tools for Business Leaders |
Navigating uncertain times is hard for any business—but it doesn’t have to be. Learn how scenario planning tools can set your business up for success. |
|
|
Fortune 500 Power Moves
Lockheed Martin (No. 57) has promoted Evan Scott as the company’s SVP and CFO, effective immediately. Scott succeeded Jesus “Jay” Malave, who advised the company that he is pursuing other opportunities. Scott, a 26-year Lockheed Martin finance executive has served as the company's treasurer and the CFO of two business areas.
A-Mark Precious Metals, Inc. (A-Mark) (No. 421) has appointed Cary Dickson as CFO, effective July 1. Dickson, who previously served as the company’s CFO from November 2015 through September 2019, will re-join A-Mark on May 2 as its executive vice president. He will assume the role of CFO upon the departure of current CFO Kathleen Simpson-Taylor, who will retire. Dickson most recently served as a partner of Hardesty LLC, a provider of a full range of financial services.
Every Friday morning, the weekly Fortune 500 Power Moves column tracks Fortune 500 company C-suite shifts—see the most recent edition.
More notable moves this week:
Armin Zerza was appointed EVP and CFO of Warner Music Group Corp. (Nasdaq: WMG), effective May 5. He will succeed current EVP and CFO Bryan Castellani. Zerza comes to WMG with three decades of experience. During his time at Activision Blizzard, he served as CFO, chief commercial officer, and played a key role in the company’s acquisition by Microsoft.
Nancy Buese was appointed CFO of CRH (NYSE: CRH), a provider of building materials solutions, effective May 12. Buese previously served as EVP and CFO at Baker Hughes Company and Newmont Corporation. She has also served as EVP and CFO at MarkWest Energy Partners and MPLX and was a partner at Ernst & Young.
William “Bill” J. Kelley Jr. was appointed EVP, CFO and principal accounting officer of Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE: UTZ), a manufacturer of branded salty snacks, effective May 1. He will succeed current CFO Ajay Kataria. Kelley most recently served as global CFO at Tropicana Brands Group, Inc. Upon joining Utz, he will work closely with Kataria during a transition period through May 31.
Wolf Schmuhl was promoted to CFO of trivago N.V. (Nasdaq: TRVG), effective June 1. Most recently, Schmuhl served as the head of corporate finance and development at trivago. His experience also includes roles such as manager in audit and transaction services, as well as positions in controlling and as a finance lead within the Körber AG Group.
Akash Patel, CFO of Net Power (NYSE: NPWR) an energy technology company, was relieved of his duties and will officially depart the company on May 1. Danny Rice, Net Power’s CEO, will assume the title of president and serve as interim CFO.
John Sims, SVP and CFO of Sylvamo (NYSE: SLVM), a global paper company, has been promoted to chief operating officer, effective May 1, and will become CEO on Jan. 1, 2026. Jean-Michel Ribiéras, current CEO, will retire on Dec. 31. Sims became Sylvamo’s first SVP and CFO in 2021. Don Devlin has been elected SVP and CFO to succeed Sims, effective May 1. Devlin joins Sylvamo from International Paper, most recently serving as vice president of transformation and strategy deployment.
Ken Myszkowski, CFO of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARWR) will retire after 16 years of service, effective May 13. He will be succeeded by Daniel Apel. He joins the company from Walgreens Boots Alliance, where he served as global head of financial planning and analysis. Before that, he served in various roles in his nearly 20-year career at Bayer, including as CFO for Bayer U.S.
|
|
|
“The rational way to start the incremental onshoring process is by using automation and robotics to manufacture the highest value and highest tech components first because they would have the greatest tariff impact on the final sales price of finished goods.”
—Tom Biegala, founding partner at Bison Ventures, writes in the Fortune opinion piece, “The only way some manufacturing jobs will return stateside is if AI-empowered robots do them—and that’s a good thing.”
|
|
|
|
