TIAA Bank will rebrand as EverBank, in a return to a name used by a lender the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America acquired in 2017, the company announced Friday.
"The EverBank brand has always represented forward-looking optimism, confidence and trust," Steve Fischer, TIAA Bank’s president and CEO, said in a statement. "Our new bank ... embraces that legacy of unmatched service and high-value products that enable our clients to reach their own definition of success."
TIAA said in November it would sell its banking arm to a group of investment funds so it can focus on its retirement and asset management businesses.
The name change will take effect when the transaction closes this summer, TIAA said. TIAA Bank Field, home to the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars, will be renamed EverBank Stadium ahead of the team’s first home game of the season Sept. 17, the company said.
"I think it was always going to be a case that the bank would be rebranded and renamed once the sale was complete," Michael Cosgrove, a company spokesperson, told American Banker. "So we've been working on the branding and the new name since the transaction was announced last November."
Cosgrove did not give an estimated cost for the rebranding, the publication noted.
TIAA will retain a noncontrolling ownership stake in EverBank. The bank’s buyers include Stone Point Capital, Warburg Pincus, Reverence Capital Partners, Sixth Street and Bayview Asset Management.
The deal needs approval from three regulatory agencies — namely, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve.
The OCC last month approved a change to the institution’s charter, which shifted from a federal savings association to a nationally chartered commercial bank, according to the Jacksonville Daily Record.
Steven Reider, president of the consulting firm Bancography, told American Banker the rebranding could help distinguish EverBank while fueling national growth.
“It positions the bank as an independent entity — versus part of some larger, amorphous, collection of letters,” Reider said. “Obviously, they chose a geographically agnostic name … that supports expansion.”
However, the unit’s second rebranding in just over six years may create a perception that the earlier name change failed.
Cosgrove, for his part, said the change represents an opportunity to introduce new brands and serve customers across the country.
“We're launching the new bank with a new fresh brand that we think is really forward-looking and captures the spirit that we're trying to build with the new bank,” Cosgrove told American Banker.
