U.S. Bancorp — BrandWiki

U.S. Bancorp

industry
trade name	U.S. Bank
type	Public
traded as	nyse: USB S&P 100 component S&P 500 component
isin	isin: US9029733048
founded	July 13, 1863
hq location	U.S. Bancorp Center
hq location city	Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
locations	3,661 branches (2024) 4,771 ATMs (2024)

U.S. Bancorp (stylized as us bancorp) is an American multinational banking institution headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota and incorporated in Delaware. It is the 5th-largest bank in the United States as of 2025. As the largest bank in the Midwestern United States, it is considered systemically important by the Financial Stability Board. It is the parent company of its primary operating entity, U.S. Bank National Association, which does business as U.S. Bank (stylized as us bank). The company provides banking, investment, mortgage, trust, and payment services products to individuals, businesses, governmental entities, and other financial institutions.

The firm's early history can be traced to 1891, operating under the second-oldest banking charter granted in 1863 following the passage of the National Bank Act. Since inception, dozens of regional mergers and acquisitions throughout the Upper Midwest and Western United States led to the creation of modern U.S. Bancorp. As a diversified holding company, U.S. Bancorp has acquired multiple subsidiaries since the late 2010s. Its retail credit card offerings are provided via the Visa network in the U.S. and abroad.

U.S. Bancorp's annual revenue levels have it ranked on the Fortune 500, with its public stock trading within both the S&P 500 and S&P 100 indexes.[4]

products	banking · asset management · wealth management · credit cards · insurance · investment management · mortgage loans · private equity

key people	Andrew Cecere (chairman) Gunjan Kedia president and CEO)

revenue	US$27.46 billion (2024)

operating income	US$7.84 billion (2023)

net income	US$6.33 billion (2024)

assets	US$678.32 billion (2024)

equity	US$58.9 billion (2024)

num employees	70,000+ (2024)

subsid	Elavon Talech Syncada

ratio	10.9% Tier 1 (2025)

footnotes	‡R1R‡‡R2R‡‡R3R‡

History

The U.S. Bank name first appeared as United States National Bank of Portland, established in Portland, Oregon, in 1891.[8] In 1902, it merged with Ainsworth National Bank of Portland, but kept the U.S. National Bank name.[8] It changed its name to the United States National Bank of Oregon in 1964.[8]

The central part of the franchise dates from 1864, with the formation of First National Bank of Minneapolis.[8] In 1929, that bank merged with First National Bank of St. Paul (also formed in 1864) and several smaller Upper Midwest banks to form the First Bank Stock Corporation, which changed its name to First Bank System in 1968.[8]

In the eastern part of the franchise, Farmers and Millers Bank in Milwaukee opened its doors in 1853, growing into the First National Bank of Milwaukee and eventually becoming First Wisconsin and ultimately Firstar Corporation.[8] In Cincinnati, First National Bank of Cincinnati opened for business on July 13, 1863, under National Charter #24—the charter that U.S. Bancorp still operates under today, and one of the oldest active national bank charters in the nation.[9] U.S. Bancorp claims 1863 as its founding date.[8] Despite having started up in the midst of the Civil War, First National Bank of Cincinnati went on to survive many decades to grow into Star Bank.[8]

U.S. Bancorp of Oregon era

In January 1969, the U.S. National Bank of Oregon reorganized as a holding company, U.S. Bancorp,[10] after receiving authorization from its bank directors on September 9, 1968[11] and subsequently receiving legal approval to proceed from the Comptroller of the Currency on November 28, 1968.[12] LeRoy B. Staver, president, and chief executive officer of the bank, was appointed chairman and chief executive officer for the new holding company while Robert B. Wilson was appointed president of the holding company and also executive vice president for the bank.[13] Wilson later resigned as president in December 1972[14] and his position was filled eight months later by John A. Elorriaga.[15]

First Bank System era

In March 1997, the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based First Bank System announced the pending acquisition of U.S. Bancorp of Oregon for $9 billion (~$ in ) in stock.[65][66][67] At the time of the announcement, U.S. Bancorp of Oregon had banking offices in Oregon, Washington, California, Idaho and Utah while First Bank System had banking offices in Minnesota, Colorado, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Kansas, and Wyoming. Under the terms of the acquisition, First Bank System was the nominal survivor, and the newly merged company was headquartered in Minneapolis. However, it took the more recognizable U. S. Bancorp name. John F. Grundhofer, chairman and chief executive of First Bank, was appointed president and chief executive of the new company while Gerry B. Cameron, chairman, and chief executive of U.S. Bancorp of Oregon, was appointed chairman of the new company, which he held until his retirement in 1998. The acquisition was completed in August 1997.[68] Approximately 4000 jobs were eliminated, mostly in Portland.[69]

Brief history of First Bank prior to acquisition

First Bank System can trace its roots to the formation of First National Bank of Minneapolis in 1864. In 1929, the First National Bank of Minneapolis joined with the First National Bank of St. Paul to form a joint holding company for both banks that was called the First Bank Stock Corporation, while keeping both subsidiary banks legally separate. The new holding company quickly grew by acquiring other banks in the four-state region before the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 prohibited such actions. First Bank Stock Corporation was renamed First Bank System Inc. in 1968.[70]

U.S. Bancorp after takeover by First Bank System

In September 1997, the new U.S. Bancorp (having dropped the "of Oregon" suffix), formerly First Bank System, announced the pending acquisition of the St. Cloud, Minnesota-based Zappco, Inc. with its three banks and six banking locations for an undisclosed amount.[71] At the time of the announcement, U.S. Bancorp had more than 1,000 banking offices in the states of Minnesota, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, California, Idaho, Nebraska, North Dakota, Nevada, South Dakota, Montana, Iowa, Illinois, Utah, Wisconsin, Kansas, and Wyoming. The acquisition was completed in December 1997.[72]

U.S. Bancorp after takeover by First Bank System

In March 1998, U.S. Bancorp announced the pending acquisition of the Vancouver, Washington-based Northwest Bancshares with its 10-branch offices Northwest National Bank subsidiary for an undisclosed amount.[73][74] In October 1998, the U.S. Justice Department agreed to allow the acquisition to proceed on the condition that one of the Northwest National Bank branch offices was to be sold.[75] The acquisition was completed in December 1998 after U.S. Bancorp sold the requested banking office to Centennial Bank of Eugene.[76]

At the end of 1998, Gerry Cameron retired as chairman and handed the position over to John Grundhofer who added the title of chairman to his other positions of president and chief executive officer.[77][78]

In February 1999, U.S. Bancorp announced the pending acquisition of the San Diego-based Bank of Commerce with its 10 branch offices for $314 million (~$ in ) in stock.[79][80][81] The acquisition was finalized in July 1999.[82] r In May 1999, U.S. Bancorp announced the pending acquisition of the Newport Beach, California-based Western Bancorp with its Santa Monica Bank and Southern California Bank subsidiaries and a total of 31 branch offices for $904 million (~$ in ) in stock.[83][84] At the time of the announcement, U.S. Bancorp had 98 branch offices within California. The acquisition was finalized in November 1999 for $1.04 billion (~$ in ) in stock.[85][86]

In September 1999, U.S. Bancorp announced the pending acquisition of the San Diego-based Peninsula Bank with its 11 branch offices for $104 million (~$ in ) in stock.[90][91][92][93] In early January 2000, a group of Peninsula Bank stockholders tried to stop the merger because the initial merger agreement was made prior to the huge 27% single-day drop in the value of U.S. Bancorp stock which effectively lowered the purchase price.[94] The acquisition was later completed in January 2000 at a 10% reduction of the original price negotiated.[95]

In June 2000, U.S. Bancorp announced the acquisition of the San Diego-based Scripps Financial Corporation with its nine-branch office Scripps Bank subsidiary for $155 million (~$ in ) in stock.[96] The acquisition was completed in October 2000.[97]

Firstar era

In October 2000, Firstar Corporation of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, announced the pending acquisition of U.S. Bancorp for $21 billion (~$ in ) in stock.[98][99][100] The merger was completed on February 27, 2001. While Firstar was the nominal survivor, the merged company took the U.S. Bancorp name and moved to old U.S. Bancorp's headquarters in Minneapolis.[101] Under the merger agreement, Jerry Grundhofer, president and chief executive officer of Firstar, would continue in those positions in the combined company while his older brother, John Grundhofer, chairman, president and chief executive officer of U.S. Bancorp, would serve as chairman of the board in the combined company until his planned retirement on December 31, 2002.[100][102] The merged company retained some administrative functions in Milwaukee and Cincinnati.

To allow the merger to proceed, the U.S. Department of Justice required Firstar to sell 11 branch offices in the Minneapolis-area and 2 in Council Bluffs, Iowa.[103] Bremer Bank of Saint Paul, Minnesota, purchased the 11 Minneapolis-area Firstar offices[104][105] while Liberty Bank of West Des Moines, Iowa, purchased the 2 Council Bluffs offices.[106][107]

Brief history of Firstar prior to acquisition

Firstar Corporation traced its roots to the founding of the Farmer's and Millers Bank in Milwaukee in 1853, which by 1919 evolved into First Wisconsin National Bank. However, the Firstar that took over U.S. Bancorp in 2001 was actually the same company and leadership that acquired Firstar 27 months earlier in 1998, namely Star Banc Corporation. That bank, in turn, traced its roots to the founding of First National Bank of Cincinnati in 1863. Jerry Grundhofer and his team from Star Banc were instrumental in both acquisitions.

Present-day U.S. Bancorp retains Star Banc's pre-1998 stock price history. As mentioned above, it claims 1863 as its founding date, and operates under the charter originally granted to First National Bank of Cincinnati. Additionally, all SEC filings before 1998 are under Star Banc, and all filings from 1998 to 2000 are under Firstar.

U.S. Bancorp after takeover by Firstar

In April 2001, the new U.S. Bancorp announced the pending acquisition of all 20 branch offices in California of the Encino-based Pacific Century Bank from its Honolulu-based parent Pacific Century Financial Corporation.[108][109]

U.S. Bancorp after takeover by Firstar

In July 2002, U.S. Bancorp announced the pending acquisition of all 57 retail banking branches of the San Mateo, California-based Bay View Bank from its Bay View Capital Corporation parent for $429 million (~$ in ).[112][113] The acquisition was completed in November 2002.[114]

On New Years Day 2003, John Grundhofer retired as chairman of U.S. Bancorp and handed the position to his younger brother Jerry Grundhofer, who added the title of chairman to his other positions of president and chief executive officer in the corporation.[115]

In May 2004, U.S. Bancorp announced that it was acquiring the $34 billion (~$ in ) corporate trust bond administration business from National City Corporation.[116][117][118]

In October 2004, Richard K. Davis was appointed chief operating officer and president of U.S. Bancorp. Jerry Grundhofer had handed over the position of president to Davis while still retaining the titles of chairman and chief executive officer.[119] Davis had been a protege of Grundhofer since their days together at Star Banc Corporation and had assisted in the takeover of Firstar by Star Banc in 1998[120] and the later acquisition of U.S. Bancorp by Firstar in 2001.

U.S. Bancorp acquired Genpass along with its MoneyPass ATM network subsidiary for an undisclosed amount in May 2005.[121]

In November 2005, U.S. Bancorp announced that it was acquiring the $410 billion corporate trust and institutional custody businesses of Wachovia Corporation for $720 million in cash.[122]

In July 2006, U.S. Bancorp announced that it was acquiring the $123 billion (~$ in ) municipal and corporate bond trustee business from SunTrust.[123]

In June 2006, U.S. Bancorp announced the pending acquisition of the Avon, Colorado-based Vail Banks Inc. with its WestStar Bank subsidiary and 23 locations for $98.6 million (~$ in ) in cash.[124] The acquisition was completed in September 2006.[125]

In November 2006, U.S. Bancorp announced that it was acquiring the $30 billion (~$ in ) municipal bond trustee business from LaSalle Bank.[126][127]

In November 2006, U.S. Bancorp announced the pending acquisition of the Great Falls, Montana-based United Financial Corporation with its Heritage Bank subsidiary for $71 million (~$ in ) in stock.[128] The acquisition was completed in February 2007 and nearly double the branch presence of U.S. Bank in Montana.[129]

In December 2006, Jerry Grundhofer handed over the position of chief executive officer to president Richard Davis while Grundhofer remained chairman until his retirement the following year in December 2007.[130][131][132] After Grundhofer's retirement in December 2007, Davis added the position of chairman to his other titles of president and chief executive officer.[133]

In March 2008, the U.S. Bancorp announced the pending acquisition of the seven-office Los Angeles-based Mellon 1st Business Bank from the Bank of New York Mellon for an undisclosed amount in cash.[134] The acquisition was completed in June 2008.[135]

US Bancorp post-GFC

On October 5, 2009, the company announced its acquisition of the $8 billion (~$ in ) mutual fund administration and accounting servicing division of Fiduciary Management, Inc. for an undisclosed amount.[142][143]

On October 7, 2009, the company agreed to buy the bond trustee business of First Citizens Bank, a subsidiary of First Citizens BancShares Inc. for an undisclosed amount.[144][145]

On October 20, 2009, the company completed a transaction to purchase the failed FBOP Corporation's nine subsidiary banks from the FDIC for an undisclosed amount. The banks included BankUSA, National Association with 2 offices in Arizona, Cal National Bank with 68 offices in California, Citizens National Bank with 1 office in Texas, Community Bank of Lemont with 1 office in Illinois, Madisonville State Bank with 1 office in Texas, North Houston Bank with 1 office in Texas, Pacific National Bank with 17 offices in California, Park National Bank with 31 offices in Illinois, and San Diego National Bank with 28 offices in California.[146]

Since the company did not have a previous presence in Texas nor want one in the near future, the company subsequently sold the three banks in Texas in 2010 to Houston-based Prosperity Bancshares for an undisclosed amount.[147] Each of the banks had one office each.[146]

In October 2009, BB&T Corporation (now Truist Financial) announced the pending sale of its Nevada banking operations to U.S. Bancorp for an undisclosed amount. BB&T had just acquired the 21 offices in Nevada through a transaction facilitated by the FDIC for disposal of the assets and deposits of the failed Alabama-based Colonial BancGroup but BB&T had no desire to expand west of Texas while it wanted to keep the other Colonial former locations in the Southeastern United States.[148] The acquisition was completed in January 2010.[149]

In July 2010, U.S. Bancorp sold its FAF Advisors subsidiary to Nuveen Investments for $80 million (~$ in ) and a 9.5% stake in Nuveen.[150][151]

In 2010, Huntington Bancshares announced it would take over the leases of bank branches inside Giant Eagle locations in Ohio, largely replacing U.S. Bancorp but also replacing branches from FirstMerit Corporation (which itself would be acquired by Huntington in 2016) and Citizens Financial Group; the deal didn't affect Citizens branches inside Giant Eagle locations in Pennsylvania.[152][153] The deal mostly didn't affect U.S. Bancorp, but it did lead to the withdrawal from the Youngstown, Ohio market since U.S. Bancorp's only branches in the area were inside Giant Eagle locations; the branches had been a holdover from the Firstar days. By 2020, U.S. Bancorp had organically become Ohio's largest bank by deposits despite not having a presence in the Youngstown and Toledo markets and ahead of major banks based in Ohio (Huntington, Fifth Third Bank & KeyBank), PNC Bank, and Chase Bank.[154]

In January 2011, U.S. Bancorp acquired the assets and deposits of the failed First Community Bank of New Mexico in a transaction facilitated by the FDIC for an asset discount of approximately $380 million (~$ in ).[155] The acquisition had included 35 offices in New Mexico and 3 offices in Arizona.

In January 2012, the company acquired the assets and deposits of the failed Knoxville, Tennessee-based BankEast in a transaction facilitated by the FDIC for an asset discount of approximately $67.5 million (~$ in ).[156] The acquisition had included 10 offices in the Knoxville area.

In March 2013, U.S. Bancorp announced that it was acquiring the $57 billion (~$ in ) municipal bond trustee business from Deutsche Bank.[157]

In January 2014, U.S. Bancorp announced the pending acquisition of 94 branch offices of the Charter One Bank in Chicago from the RBS Citizens Financial Group for $315 million (~$ in ),[158] doubling its market share in Chicago.[159] 13 Charter One branches were closed due to their close proximity to existing U.S. Bank offices.[160] The acquisition was completed in June 2014.[159]

In January 2015, chief financial officer Andrew Cecere was promoted to chief operating officer.[161] A year later, Cecere was given the additional position of president.[162]

In January 2017, U.S. Bancorp announced that chairman and CEO Richard Davis was going to hand over his CEO position to president and COO Andrew Cecere in April 2017 while remaining as chairman.[163] Davis officially retired from the company in April 2018 and Cecere became chairman, president and CEO.[164]

In November 2017, the bank performed the United States banking industry's first real-time payment transaction using a system set up by The Clearing House. The transaction moved a nominal amount between accounts at BNY Mellon and U.S. Bancorp in three seconds, inaugurating the first new payment clearance and settlement system for the US in over 40 years.[165]

In February 2018, the bank was charged by the Department of Justice with failing to implement measures preventing illegal activities, including one case of abetting.[166] U.S. Bancorp agreed to pay $613 million in fines and implement measures to improve the monitoring of its customer transactions.[166] In September 2018, $505 million was distributed to customers of an illegal payday loan business, AMG Services, whose suspicious activities US Bancorp had failed to report.[167]

In September 2018, Fiserv announced that it would acquire MoneyPass from US Bancorp for $690 million (~$ in ).[168] The deal was finalized in March 2019.[169] The sale did not include Elan's credit card division,[170] which issued some of the most prominent cards including Fidelity, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.[171] On September 21, 2021, U.S. Bancorp agreed to purchase MUFG Union Bank's consumer business for $8 billion (~$ in ). It was the bank's biggest deal since 2001 when it merged with Milwaukee-based Firstar Corp. for $21 billion (~$ in ). The deal with MUFG Union Bank added $58 billion in loans to U.S. Bancorp's current base of $294 billion and will give U.S. Bancorp a large presence on the U.S. West Coast, especially California.[172]

In August 2023, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, former parent company of MUFG Union Bank it sold 8 months earlier to U.S. Bancorp, announced it would be buying a $936 million stake in U.S. Bancorp.[1] The deal swaps debt with equity, strengthening U.S. Bancorp's alliance with Japan's largest bank.[176]

Gunjan Kedia became CEO of U.S. Bancorp in mid-April 2025.[177]

In January 2026, US Bancorp announced a deal to buy BTIG—a financial services firm that specializes in investment banking, sales and trading, research and prime brokerage—for up to $1 billion in cash and stock. The deal involved a $362.5 million cash payment, 6.6 million shares and up to $275 million in cash payable over three years pending the achievement certain performance targets.[178]

U.S. Bancorp

History

U.S. Bancorp of Oregon era

Notable Community Work

Controversies

Notable corporate buildings

See also

External links

References

First Bank System era

Brief history of First Bank prior to acquisition

U.S. Bancorp after takeover by First Bank System

Brief history of First Bank prior to acquisition

U.S. Bancorp after takeover by First Bank System

Firstar era

Brief history of Firstar prior to acquisition

U.S. Bancorp after takeover by Firstar

Brief history of Firstar prior to acquisition

U.S. Bancorp after takeover by Firstar

US Bancorp in the Great Financial Crisis (GFC)

US Bancorp post-GFC