08.05.25

Fifth Third, Expanding to Alabama, Aims to ‘Show Up Differently’

by: Gabrielle Saulsbery

Fifth Third is expanding into its 12th state, Alabama, to capitalize on the ongoing boom in the southeast — the only region to see population growth through domestic migration in 2024. “The growth that we are having as a company — the ability to be in new communities, to serve customers that were from the Midwest or the north and have moved to the south and were waiting for branches — it’s exciting,” said Shawn Niehaus, the lender’s head of consumer banking. Fifth Third's new branches, known as “next-gen” financial centers, are smaller, more tech-forward and more casual in feel than legacy branches. “Most of the time I never see anyone using the office,” Niehaus said of the next-gen branches' sole closed-door setting. Instead, he said, customers and employees are using open-air spaces, often working side by side. “It's about showing up how customers want us to show up, not building barriers between [them and] you, shutting a door and making you feel like you're locked in to have someone pitch you something. That is not who we want to be,” Niehaus said. “We're all about relationship banking, serving you how you want to be served.”

Read the full article on Banking Dive