Truist Names Tom Hackett to Head Investment Banking Arm

Banking giant Truist has appointed a new CEO for its corporate/investment banking arm.

Tom Hackett, currently serving as chief operating officer of Truist Securities, will become CEO beginning March 31, the company announced Monday (March 13). He replaces John Gregg, who is set to retire, the Charlotte, N.C.-based Truist said in a news release.

“Tom’s purpose-driven leadership and depth of experience make him well-suited to lead our firm as we continue to leverage our range of capabilities and expertise to position our clients for success,” said Truist Vice President Beau Cummins.

“I also want to thank John for his leadership in growing Truist Securities and creating a culture that is centered around serving our clients and helping them achieve outstanding results.”

The leadership change comes during a momentous time for the country’s banking sector, with President Biden on Monday trying to reassure Americans the industry was safe following two high-profile bank failures.

Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank were both shut down by regulators over the period of two days this weekend following a run on deposits, leading to worldwide fears of a larger contagion for the industry.

Despite this, Biden said, Americans “can rest assured our banking system is safe. Your deposits are safe.”

PYMNTS spoke with Truist executives Sherry Graziano and Ken Meyer last month about how banks can become financial advisors for their customers.

“How our clients think about engaging is often shaped and influenced by other experiences,” said Graziano, head of digital banking and contact centers. “We are very anchored to one of our core tenets, a concept we call T3, which is essentially how we think about leveraging technology coupled with the human touch to deliver on trust for our clients. [We are] ensuring that the human touch meets the client’s needs wherever they may be.”

Meyer, Truist’s chief innovation and experience officer, told PYMNTS the bank thinks more like an agile software company, building reusable components for mobile and online platforms.

“The best way to do that is to create simplicity in the architecture and simplicity for our teammates so you don’t have to go through many different paths in order to serve the client in the same way,” he said.

Meyer and Graziano agree that competition from traditional banks offers opportunities to learn and improve their own products. They say Truist’s differentiator is how quickly and accurately it can respond by rolling out features, services and products that are tightly focused on meeting specific-customer use cases.