Conversion 'seamless,' SunTrust CEO claims

Despite reports of some glitches, SunTrust Banks Inc. boasted Wednesday that it has successfully converted a half-million Huntington Bancshares accounts in Florida into its ranks.

"Our goal all along was to make this transition smooth, efficient and, most important, seamless to the customer," said George W. Koehn, chairman and chief executive of SunTrust Banks of Florida. "We believe we have achieved that goal."

That doesn't mean the process went perfectly for everybody. Some former Huntington customers reported incorrect account balances and problems accessing information about their accounts via the Internet and through the bank.

"For 99.9 percent of our customers things went fine," said SunTrust spokeswoman Carolyn Gosselin. "We hate that there is one-tenth of 1 percent where it has not worked out fine."

SunTrust completed its buy-out of Huntington Bancshares' Florida operations last Friday. The $705-million deal gave SunTrust an additional 59 branches, deposits of approximately $4.5-billion and nearly 500,000 accounts.

Orchestrating the transfer of accounts from one bank's computers to the other's took many hours of planning, Gosselin said, and was a formidable challenge.

A dozen customers at a former Huntington branch in Clearwater said Wednesday they had no problems so far, but most were far from overjoyed with the sale. Some complained about higher fees. Others were just tired of their banks changing hands. Some had been customers of First Florida Bank and then Barnett Bankseven before Huntington.

Ernie Argyros said he was a former Barnett customer who banked at two of its branches. Then, one of the branches was sold to Bank of America and the other went to Huntington. For a while, each bank told him it had his account, but neither paid his bills automatically as they should have.

"We will see how this one is going to go," Argyros said. "I have to wait to see if my checks are going to bounce."

Such skepticism is to be expected, said spokeswoman Gosselin.

"It's like buying a new car," she said. "It's very normal for new customers to want to go kick the tires and make sure everything is there."

Common customer complaints Wednesday were about fees.

"I am out of here," said Carol Fedun of Palm Harbor as she walked out of a former Huntington. "The value isn't there for me."

Her Huntington account didn't require a minimum balance, but her new SunTrust account requires her to pay $12 a month if her minimum balance is less than $1,000.

Larry Wellman, who owns the Dairy Kurl ice cream store in Clearwater, was dismayed to find that he has no overdraft protection or a line of credit through his new SunTrust account. His business is seasonal and the line of credit automatically included in his Huntington account came in handy.

"It was nice to have," he said.

SunTrust's purchase of the Huntington branches boosted the bank to the No. 2 market share spot in Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco counties, and lengthened its No. 1 lead in Hernando County.

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