Huntington Bancshares Inc. named Stephen D. Steinour its new chairman, president and chief executive a week after the regional bank confirmed it was looking for a successor for Thomas E. Hoaglin, who held led the company since 2001.
Hoaglin, who retires as of Feb. 28, plans to assist Steinour during his transition.
The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the situation, reported Tuesday night that the former Citizens Financial Group Inc. chief executive would take over at Huntington. Ohio-based Huntington has struggled since its $3.29 billion acquisition of Sky Financial Group because of the credit crunch and a commercial relationship Sky had with subprime-mortgage lender Franklin Credit Management Corp.
Steinour has three decades of banking experience and was most recently a managing partner with Boston investment firm Cross Harbor Capital Partners LLC. Citizens Financial, which he left in March, does business in 13 states and is a subsidiary of Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC.
A succession plan at Huntington unraveled a year ago when the bank's president and chief operating officer, Marty Adams, stepped down. Adams had been in line to replace Hoaglin upon his planned retirement in 2011. He came to the company in 2007 as part of the Sky deal.
Meanwhile, Huntington issued Steinour options for up to one million common shares with a seven-year term.
Huntington shares closed at $5.91 on Tuesday and weren't active premarket. The stock has fallen 52% in the past year is its credit quality has slumped like numerous other banks amid surging charge-offs and delinquencies. Huntington halved its dividend in April and sold $569 million in convertible preferred stock last year to bolster its capital levels.
