Turner more optimistic about Atlanta push

Terry Turner

Pinnacle Financial Partners President and CEO Terry Turner said Tuesday that the planned merger of SunTrust and BB&T sets the stage for Nashville’s largest bank to more quickly push into the Southeast’s largest city.

The leaders of SunTrust and BB&T in early February announced their $66 billion deal, which will involve moving the combined bank’s home office to Charlotte. That has many industry watchers expecting quite a bit of personnel fallout — Case in point: SunTrust CFO Allison Dukes on Monday said she will step down once the deal is completed — across the lenders’ footprint, with SunTrust’s hometown of Atlanta seen as particularly ripe.