Truist CEO Bill Rogers promised Wall Street last month that big changes were afoot at the Charlotte-based bank, including streamlining and “sizable reductions in force.” This week, shifts in the company’s Consumer and Small Business Banking division were announced to employees.
An Oct. 3 memo from Dontá Wilson, Chief Retail and Small Business Banking officer, included these leadership changes and internal reorganizations:
- Chief Marketing Officer Vinoo Vijay has left Truist, after joining the bank in 2020. Sherry Graziano was promoted to head of digital, client experience and marketing. She has worked at Truist and predecessor SunTrust Banks since 2011.
- Allison Robinson is now heading Branch and Premier Banking, which are combining. She has been head of Community Branch Banking and Emerging Markets. Premier Banking refers to services for more affluent customers.
- David Smith will now head Consumer Lending, which is combining direct-to-consumer, mortgage lending and other units. Smith joined Truist this summer as head of Truist Mortgage. His unit aligns several businesses into “a single consumer loan portfolio leadership structure to optimize growth and returns more effectively,” according to the memo.
- Jon Ambler will lead the Deposits team overseeing consumer and small business deposits. The unit is gaining an elevated role in the Consumer and Small Business Banking division, reflecting “the strategic core value of deposits.”
- Rajiv Rattray, head of strategy and business performance optimization, will add responsibilities in Strategic Execution and Business Performance, including Change and Transformation Management and Data Insights, Analytics and Governance.
In September, Rogers said Truist will save $750 million in gross costs over 12 to 18 months through a simplification effort. The reduced staff will consolidate redundant functions and occur as “select business” is restructured, according to Truist. The company employs about 53,000 workers.
Reductions in force will total about $300 million in savings, while organizational simplification will save $250 million and tech optimization, $200 million, the bank said.
Earlier this week, Truist said its board of directors would be slimmed to 13 members with eight existing members leaving at the end of the year. Four are departing because of the mandatory retirement age, while four others are voluntarily stepping down.
Truist is the No. 6 bank in the U.S. with assets topping $550 billion. It was formed by the 2019 merger of BB&T and SunTrust.
