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Speaker 1: Hey, Brian Thomas, it's not Money Monday. It is well Thursday,

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Speaker 1: but I have Brian James from Monday mondays all Worth

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Speaker 1: Financial to talk about this interesting development research. You know

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Speaker 1: locally Fifth Third Bank is merging with co America. It's

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Speaker 1: another bank described as a middle market banking franchise, and

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Speaker 1: that's why we had Brian James on to explain what

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Speaker 1: this is going to mean for Fifth Third bankers, for

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Speaker 1: maybe the broader banking industry. But from my understanding, this

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Speaker 1: is going to create if it's approved, and you're going

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Speaker 1: to address the regulatory approval, but it's going to create

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Speaker 1: the ninth largest bank in the United States. Welcome back,

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Speaker 1: Brian James, and happy New Year.

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Speaker 2: By the way, Happy New Year and Money Monday except

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Speaker 2: on a Thursday, so we're changing things up. But we'll

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Speaker 2: be back to our regular schedule programming on this coming Monday,

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Speaker 2: I assume, unless there's crazy headlines between now and then.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, so big headlines. Fifth third Bank cole America.

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Speaker 2: This was announced a few months ago. They were sniffing

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Speaker 2: around about this. The shareholders approved it yesterday earlier this week,

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Speaker 2: and that the as you mentioned, that's going to create

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Speaker 2: a big bank. Both of these banks were similar. You know,

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Speaker 2: for those of us in the listening area here familiar

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Speaker 2: with Fifth Third, co America is similar to fifth Third,

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Speaker 2: just mostly up in the northern area. You might have

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Speaker 2: heard the term that this is where the Detroit Tigers

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Speaker 2: play in Comerica Park, so that's where you might have

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Speaker 2: heard the term from. But in any case, co America's

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Speaker 2: shareholders are going to receive one point eight fifth Third

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Speaker 2: sharehold shares per co America. So this is a takeover.

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Speaker 2: Co America is going to be swallowed by Fifth Third,

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Speaker 2: and that's going to give them about a twenty percent

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Speaker 2: premium on their on the co America stock price at

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Speaker 2: the announcement. At the end of the day, fifth Third

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Speaker 2: shareholders are going to own about seventy three percent of

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Speaker 2: the combined entity. In co America shareholders we get about

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Speaker 2: a quarter of it. So it's been approved by shareholders.

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Speaker 2: We are still in the final regulatory approval stage, so

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Speaker 2: the government has the rubber stamp it, and but that

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Speaker 2: doesn't seem to be a huge concern that that. So

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Speaker 2: I actually worked for Fifth Third for a long time

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Speaker 2: and many of the projects we were involved in were

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Speaker 2: geared toward getting fifth Third back into the shape that

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Speaker 2: it could be to make major acquisitions like this and

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Speaker 2: remain competitive because in that industry, Brian Thomas, it is

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Speaker 2: acquire or be acquired.

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Speaker 1: Now, is this going to result in any name changes?

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Speaker 1: I'm guessing since fifth Third is the acquire err that

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Speaker 1: Fifth Third Banks will remain fifth Third Banks. But will

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Speaker 1: the Comerica customers be dealing with fifth third going forward?

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Speaker 1: Are they just going to leave the name the same?

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Speaker 2: Yes, so co America is going to become fifth Third.

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Speaker 2: Obviously nobody's really going to notice that here in this area,

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Speaker 2: but in the Comerica markets they'll be seeing fifth Third

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Speaker 2: broadcast everywhere. And I'm sure they're going to own more

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Speaker 2: or advertise the more minor league ballparks that seems to

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Speaker 2: be their thing over the years.

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Speaker 1: Well, I suppose this may suggest, as most mergers do,

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Speaker 1: that there are going to be some job cuts. Usually

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Speaker 1: there are you know, overlapping legal departments. I remember those days,

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Speaker 1: you know, when you merge with another company, then you've

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Speaker 1: got two legal departments. You don't need to just is

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Speaker 1: that what's going to happen? Do you anticipate? Brian?

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Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely, that's that's the whole reason behind this, and

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Speaker 2: truly any merger in any industry, it's just a common

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Speaker 2: enemies of scale and combining operations, uh, to to reduce overlap.

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Speaker 2: So probably a bigger concern unfortunately for the Comerica employees

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Speaker 2: than than the fifth third. Uh. But sounding like at

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Speaker 2: this point it may be an opportunity here locally for

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Speaker 2: jobs because fifthird obviously has a massive operational presence, uh,

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Speaker 2: you know, up and up at their operational facility in Madisonville. Uh.

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Speaker 2: And I would I would expect that there's going to

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Speaker 2: be some new faces walking in those halls as as

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Speaker 2: they look to increase the number of people. And it's

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Speaker 2: really on the regulatory side because the bigger the bank is,

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Speaker 2: the more the government wants to sniff around, and you

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Speaker 2: have to have more and more, more and more people

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Speaker 2: putting the reporting together and those kinds of things. So uh,

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Speaker 2: not not looking really for any huge impact here. Their

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Speaker 2: course could be branch consolidations, but again that's probably not uh.

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Speaker 2: You know, there are no co America branches in this area,

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Speaker 2: so that'll be again more in the co America market

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Speaker 2: where they decided that these two across the parking lot

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Speaker 2: need to be merged into one for example.

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Speaker 1: Well, soon the branch doesn't change, is there going to

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Speaker 1: be any noticeable difference. Let's say the listeners who are

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Speaker 1: currently fifth Third, who currently bank with fifth Third? Is

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Speaker 1: this just going to be sort of seamless, there's nothing

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Speaker 1: to see here? Life goes on for the average customer.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. I think it's going to be more for the employees,

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Speaker 2: and obviously there are thousands of them here in the

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Speaker 2: Cincinnati area. But you know, I wouldn't say, as a

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Speaker 2: banking customer, which I am one, fifth Third has been

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Speaker 2: a great bank for me. I don't look for any

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Speaker 2: major changes there, just a bigger bank. And again, this

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Speaker 2: is all about acquire or be acquired, because you know,

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Speaker 2: co America made it as far as they did and

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Speaker 2: they got picked up. Third Or fortunately is still on

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Speaker 2: the independent side where they can kind of be the

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Speaker 2: predator not the prey.

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Speaker 1: Well, and I suppose overall with that point made it overall,

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Speaker 1: it's a good thing for Fifth Third Bank.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it depends on your view of big business. Right.

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Speaker 2: Some people aren't going to be a fan of this

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Speaker 2: because you know, maybe you just love your Camerica branch

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Speaker 2: and now it's going to be changing a little bit,

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Speaker 2: but at the end of the day, it basically means

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Speaker 2: that the structure is still there and you know you'll

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Speaker 2: have that support going forward. It's very very much. Let's

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Speaker 2: make no mistake here, this is very much about profit

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Speaker 2: margin and the maintenance of the ability to stay competitive.

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Speaker 2: That's really what it's about. This is these are never

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Speaker 2: about customers. Nobody's going to walk away from a bank

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Speaker 2: merger with a better experience. This is about shareholders in

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Speaker 2: the banking industry, Brian, customers come third, The shareholders come first,

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Speaker 2: regulators come second, and then it's the customers. Spend a

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Speaker 2: lot of time there and that's frankly why I left

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Speaker 2: the industry.

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Speaker 1: All right, Well, I appreciate your honesty. Money mondays Brian James.

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Speaker 1: On a Thursday, we'll call it money Thursday. Brian James,

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Speaker 1: I can't thank you enough for doing a special segment

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Speaker 1: with my listeners and me today to talk about the

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Speaker 1: impact on this. So probably you won't see much employees

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Speaker 1: with Fifth Third in CA America, maybe you'll be seeing something.

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Speaker 1: Just hold your keep your powder dry, and keep your

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Speaker 1: fingers crossed. Brian James, I wish you all the best

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Speaker 1: best of health. In a very Happy New Year again,

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Speaker 1: do you, sir. I look forward to our conversations going

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Speaker 1: forward this.

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Speaker 2: Year, you bet. Happy New Year to you as well,

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Speaker 2: and we will talk more about this deadline as it

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Speaker 2: continues to unwrap.

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Speaker 1: Looking forward to that. We'll talk on Monday. Take care,