Deepening collaboration across lines of business through mixed-function Agile teams, CoEs, and even dedicated “innovation centers” like the one Truist is building.

Could you define what that means for Truist? DW: In one sentence: It fosters a seamless experience between clients' financial lives and personal lives, using data analytics to enable distinctive experiences to support their unique journeys. That's what we're trying to do. Personally, though, I don't think we're going through a digital transformation.

Since Truist, the combined company, does not yet have a unified digital banking platform, Insider Intelligence evaluated BB&T and SunTrust’s mobile banking offerings as if they were separate banks. We also expanded the study from the top 20 US banks to the top 25 this year, adding Bank of the West, Citizens, Huntington, M&T, and Santander.

Banks like SunTrust and BB&T (now merged to form Truist) together closed 565 branches in that time frame. Capital One has closed 32% of its branches since 2017. The pandemic also has unleashed a surge of digitization in banking—a trend set to continue in the post-pandemic era.

The challenger bank is joined in the effort by established counterpart Truist, which is planning to launch new products in the future to bolster people’s savings efforts. This isn't the first step Varo has taken to offer financial wellness assistance and improve its image:. Credit building. In February, Varo rolled out a credit-building product called Varo Believe.

In July 2020, it concluded its merger of equals with IberiaBank, and bought 30 branches across North Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia from SunTrust (now Truist) later the same month. Strategy: First Horizon is balancing its aggressive M&A activity with careful systems integration. The bank is cognizant of the need to balance M&A-fueled growth with consistent digital CX.