Branch Banking & Trust Company, better known as BB&T, was founded in 1872 and operated under the BB&T name from 1903 through 2019 when it merged with fellow regional financial institution SunTrust Banks. The merger created Truist Financial (TFC +0.65%), which is one of the largest banks in the United States.
In this article, we'll discuss the structure of the merger, the largest shareholders, Truist's board of directors, and more.
NYSE: TFC
Key Data Points
Who is the owner of BB&T?
The merger between BB&T and SunTrust to create Truist Financial was announced in February 2019 and was called a "merger of equals," although BB&T was the official acquirer -- meaning that SunTrust investors received shares of BB&T stock after the deal was finalized.
Based on the initial terms of the deal, BB&T investors owned 57% of the combined bank after the deal was completed, while SunTrust investors owned the other 43%.
There were a few reasons why the deal materialized the way it did. For one thing, there were a lot of opportunities for cost synergies. Both were massive regional banks that operated in many of the same parts of the United States, and there was little reason to believe there would be any regulatory barriers to the deal. It was the largest merger between two U.S. banks since the 2007-09 financial crisis.
The deal was finalized in December 2019. The combined business has about 10 million households as customers. At the time of the deal, William Rogers, who was the CEO of SunTrust, became the leader of the combined business, which was renamed Truist. However, the full integration and rebranding took a couple of years.
Institutional Investor
Individual shareholders
There are generally three types of individual shareholders who have to publicly disclose their investments in a publicly traded company like Truist:
- Institutional investors
- Investors who own more than 5% of the company
- The company's directors and executive officers
As is common with large financial institutions, no individual shareholders own more than 5% of Truist Financial. With that in mind, here are the top five individual shareholders as reported in the company's latest regulatory filings in January 2025:
- William H. Rogers, Jr. owns 1,258,081 shares of Truist. He is currently the CEO and board chairman for Truist.
- Hugh Cummings owns 487,953 shares of Truist. He was the bank's chief operating officer until his resignation in early 2025.
- Mike Maguire owns 96,651 shares of Truist. He is the bank's vice chief financial officer.
- Dontá Wilson owns 75,615 shares of Truist and serves as chief consumer and small business banking officer.
- Charles Patton owns 75,017 shares of Truist and is a member of the bank's board of directors.
Institutional investors
As you might expect, the largest shareholders of this bank stock are institutions -- specifically those that offer index funds to investors. Here's a list of the top five:
- Vanguard owns more than 119 million shares of Truist, a 9.3% stake in the financial institution.
- Capital International Investors owns 107.3 million shares, an 8.4% stake.
- BlackRock (BLK +0.66%) owns 106.8 shares of Truist, a stake of about 8.4%.
- State Street (STT +1.44%) owns almost 60.1 million shares, a stake of about 4.7%.
- Laurel Wealth Advisors owns 53.4 million shares of Truist, a roughly 4.3% stake in the bank.
Board of Trustees
Who is on the Board of Directors for Truist Financial?
Truist Financial's board of directors has 13 members, each of whom is elected to a one-year term at the company's annual meeting each year. Here's the current roster (note that some board members' terms began before the 2019 merger with one of the combining banks).
NAME | ROLE | BOARD TENURE |
|---|---|---|
William Rogers | Chairman | Since 2019 |
Jennifer Banner | Director | Since 2003 |
K. David Boyer | Director | Since 2009 |
Agnes Bundy Scanlan | Director | Since 2017 |
Dallas Clement | Director | Since 2015 |
Linnie Haynesworth | Director | Since 2019 |
Donna Morea | Director | Since 2012 |
Charles Patton | Director | Since 2013 |
Jonathan Pruzan | Director | Since 2025 |
Thomas Skains | Director | Since 2009 |
Laurence Stein | Director | Since 2024 |
Bruce Tanner | Director | Since 2015 |
Steven Voorhees | Director | Since 2018 |
Related investing topics
How to invest in Truist Financial
Truist Financial is a publicly traded company, so you can invest in it by purchasing shares of its stock through a brokerage account.
If you don't already have a brokerage account, you'll need to open one to invest in stocks. First, check out some of the top online brokers and decide which company is the best fit for your investment goals and preferences.
Next, follow these steps:
- Open your brokerage account: Log in to your brokerage account where you handle your investments.
- Search for the stock: Enter the ticker or company name into the search bar to bring up the stock's trading page.
- Decide how many shares to buy: Consider your investment goals and how much of your portfolio you want to allocate to this stock.
- Select order type: Choose between a market order to buy at the current price or a limit order to specify the maximum price you're willing to pay.
- Submit your order: Confirm the details and submit your buy order.
- Review your purchase: Check your portfolio to ensure your order was filled as expected and adjust your investment strategy accordingly.
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