Huntington now No. 2 bank in Cleveland area

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Columbus-based Huntington Bank has jumped to become the second-largest bank in the Cleveland area after its purchase last year of Akronbased FirstMerit.

In the latest deposit market-share report from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., KeyBank remains the largest bank in the Cleveland area, with 22 percent of local deposits.

The annual FDIC report is important because it shows which banks are gaining customers and which are losing them.

Huntington leapt past PNC, Citizens and Third Federal to take hold of the No. 2 spot, by just a whisker. Huntington's current deposit market share is almost exactly equal to the nearly 8 percent market share it had before, plus the 6 percent market share of FirstMerit.

The amount of deposits a bank has matters because banks need deposits to lend. Banks that are losing deposits might scale back on lending, and also on customer service. They also might close branches and reduce other investments.

The Cleveland market has 34 banks; the vast majority have less than 1 percent of local market share.

Huntington, on a net basis, didn't lose local deposits. Deposits almost always are lost inl a merger, for a variety of reasons.

Sean Richardson, Huntington's regional president, said the bank worked hard to make sure FirstMerit customers felt welcome at Huntington. And he believes FirstMerit customers embraced perks such as Huntington's branches with extended hours, no-strings-attached free checking and 24-hour grace period on overdraft fees. Richardson noted that consumer deposits have grown 2 percent since the FirstMerit deal closed last year. The FDIC report cut off on June 30.

KeyBank has been Cleveland's largest bank since National City sold in 2008. Its local-deposit market share slipped a bit, from 23 percent to 22 percent. It's still up from five years ago, when it had 20 percent of local deposits.