Fifth Third Bank Storms Into Texas: 60 New Branches to Bring Jobs, Low Fees by 2026

Fifth Third Bank is accelerating its Sun Belt strategy with the opening of its first Texas financial center, a 2,800-square-foot branch in Frisco that debuted this week. The Cincinnati-based lender says the location is the beachhead for 60 new banking centers slated for North Texas by 2029, part of an ambitious goal to operate more than 250 offices statewide and vault into the region’s top-five deposit holders. The Lone Star launch comes seven months before Fifth Third completes the conversion of the 108 Comerica branches it acquired last year. Management has penciled in Labor Day weekend for the technology and signage switch-over and is already notifying Comerica customers about new account numbers, debit cards and digital-banking credentials. Why Texas—and why now? CEO Tim Spence cites explosive population growth around Dallas-Fort Worth, citing nearly 400 people moving to the metro each day, plus a robust small-business scene hungry for lending and treasury-management solutions. To match demand, the bank is hiring 750 relationship managers, mortgage originators and wealth advisers across the state. Earnings tailwind funds the push Fifth Third’s first-quarter 2026 results give the expansion real financial firepower. Net interest income climbed 9 percent year over year to $1.66 billion, driving adjusted earnings per share up 13 percent to $0.78 on the back of higher commercial loan yields and disciplined deposit pricing. Executives said the balance-sheet momentum, coupled with $180 million in Comerica cost synergies already captured, frees up growth capital without diluting shareholder returns. New deposits roll in Marketing tied to the Comerica integration is also paying off: Fifth Third has booked roughly $1 billion in net new Texas deposits in the past six months, well ahead of its internal timetable. The bank is leveraging its Momentum Checking account—which automatically rounds up purchases and sweeps the difference into savings—to court Gen Z customers migrating from national fintechs. Digital plus branch equals “phygital” While brick-and-mortar growth grabs headlines, nearly 80 percent of Fifth Third’s consumer transactions are now digital. The Texas buildout therefore emphasizes smaller, tech-enabled branches with self-service lockers for after-hours cash handling, video-chat mortgage desks and community co-working space for entrepreneurs. The model, already live in Florida, trims real-estate costs by up to 40 percent compared with legacy offices. Regulatory and ESG considerations The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency approved the Comerica merger on the condition that Fifth Third deploy at least $12 billion in community-development lending over five years, including affordable-housing projects in Dallas, Austin and Houston. The bank says it is on track after closing $1.9 billion in CRA-eligible financing during Q1. What to watch next • Labor Day conversion: Expect a weekend service freeze as backend systems merge. • Branch roll-out cadence: 20 Texas openings in 2026, another 40 by 2029. • Cross-sell metrics: Management targets a 25 percent lift in wealth-management penetration among legacy Comerica households by year-end. Bottom line By marrying a fortress Midwest balance sheet with high-growth Texas markets, Fifth Third Bank is betting that a “phygital” blend of lean branches and top-quartile mobile apps will deliver both market share and margin—the kind of one-two punch investors crave as the regional-bank race shifts southward.