Truist Financial is making a substantial, multiyear commitment to help Western North Carolina homeowners, small businesses and municipalities recover and rebuild after Hurricane Helene.
The Charlotte, North Carolina-based company has pledged $725 million in loans, investments and philanthropic grants over the next three years, it said in a press release.
The bulk of the dollars — $650 million — will go toward residential mortgages, commercial real estate loans and small business loans, as well as low-cost, tax-exempt municipal financing to repair and replace roads, bridges and other infrastructure damaged eight weeks ago when Helene tore north from Florida’s Gulf Coast and transformed much of Western North Carolina into a disaster zone.
Another $50 million will be delivered by way of loans and investments in community development financial institutions that operate in the region, and the remaining $25 million will be distributed by Truist’s charitable arm in the form of grants to local and national nonprofit organizations.
The package represents the largest regional-based disaster commitment that Truist has made, according to Jenna Kelly, the company’s regional president for the western half of North Carolina.
Truist’s commitment follows $2 million in donations that the bank made this fall to support relief efforts across multiple states in the wake of both Helene and Hurricane Milton, which struck Florida in early October.
“This is really the next phase,” Kelly said Thursday. “How do we go from a relief focus to … recovery and rebuilding?”
Truist has a substantial presence in the parts of the Southeast affected by the two recent hurricanes.
Following the storms, the Federal Emergency Management Agency declared that 403 counties across six states were experiencing a disaster. Truist operates 769 branches in those counties, which is more than any other bank and represents nearly 40% of Truist’s U.S. office footprint, according to an analysis by KBRA Financial Intelligence.
Banks in North Carolina and across the country have made numerous relief-focused donations since Helene struck in late September. Already-saturated land in the region flooded, resulting in mudslides, ruined roads and bridges, power outages and more than 100 deaths.
Bank of America pledged $1 million to support those across its footprint that were affected by the storm. First Horizon Bank in Memphis, Tennessee said it would give $250,000 to nonprofits to help impacted areas. And United Community Banks in Greenville, South Carolina, deployed an emergency grant totaling $350,000, all of which was designated for Western North Carolina.
Truist and other banks also
Last month, First Citizens BancShares, based in Raleigh, North Carolina, said it would commit $3.85 million in donations and financial support to help recovery efforts related to both recent storms.
And on Thursday, First Horizon expanded its efforts, saying its charitable foundation will commit $200,000 to help coastal communities in Florida recover from both Helene and Milton.
Banks have been “extraordinarily generous,” and they are “pitching in at appropriate levels,” said Peter Gwaltney, president and CEO of the 84-member North Carolina Bankers Association.
Still, the pledge unveiled by Truist is a bit different, he noted.
“This one just struck me in its magnitude and the specificity of the breakdown of how the money is going to be allocated,” Gwaltney said Thursday in an interview. “And it’s going to be done over a period of time because this is an event that is going to take years to remedy.”
Loans and other resources related to Truist’s program will be available starting in December. The company is still finalizing some details, including certain loan terms, Kelly said.
“What the loans look like will depend on the need,” she said. “But the point is to deploy capital to support those people, so we’ll be very thoughtful around rates to make sure capital is flowing.”
The structure of Truist’s pledge resembles a community benefits agreement, Kelly acknowledged. Banks often negotiate such agreements with nonprofit organizations to help get regulatory approval to complete acquisitions.
“We’ll track how we’re doing against the commitment,” Kelly said. “Like a community benefits agreement, we want to make sure we’re living up to what we put out there.”