Huntington Bancshares has tapped Zachary Wasserman, a top executive at Visa, to be its new financial chief.
Wasserman will join the Columbus, Ohio, company on Nov. 4. He will succeed Howell “Mac” McCullough, who previously announced his retirement as chief financial officer. McCullough will remain with the $108 billion-asset Huntington until Dec. 31.
Wasserman is currently the chief financial officer of the North American business at Visa, where he leads all aspects of financial management. Earlier he was CFO of the U.S. consumer business at American Express.
“Zach is an inspiring, results-driven leaders whose deep insights and experience will benefit Huntington’s shareholders and customers alike,” Huntington Chairman and CEO Stephen Steinour said in a news release.
Scott Siefers, an analyst at Sandler O’Neill, said in a Friday morning research note that Wasserman’s hiring “resolves an open question at an important senior level position.”
“His background as CFO for important units of even-larger financial firms suggests he has the necessary skill set to perform the role at Huntington,” Siefers wrote.
Huntington held $826 million of credit card loans as of June 30, less than 1% of its total assets. It is scheduled to report third-quarter earnings on Thursday.
McCullough has been CFO since 2014. He previously was chief strategy officer at U.S. Bancorp.
