Pinnacle plans equipment finance growth following Synovus merger

On the heels of its $8.6 billion merger with fellow financier Synovus, Pinnacle Financial Partners plans to boost its equipment finance business with new markets, customers and operational opportunities.

The combined bank holds $117.2 billion in assets and will be branded as Pinnacle in 2027, according to a Jan. 2 Pinnacle release. The merger creates a significant expansion runway, particularly as Pinnacle introduces equipment finance into Synovus’ footprint, Kris Foster, president of equipment finance and specialty industries, tells Equipment Finance News during this episode of “The Dig” podcast.

“They didn’t have an equipment finance product, so it’s absolute greenfield for us and a new opportunity,” he says. “One of the key things with this merger is there’s only 6% overlap, so we fit really well together as you look at the geography.”

Equipment finance remains central to Pinnacle’s commercial banking strategy, contributing more than 15% of new loan growth, Foster says.

Finding success with new platform

Pinnacle’s combined equipment finance platform provides both volume and specialization, combining structured lending expertise with asset-backed discipline, setting it apart as banks focus on risk-adjusted returns, Foster says.

“Understanding that asset and bringing that asset discipline is a huge piece to our puzzle and helps mitigate losses,” he says.

“Sometimes the best deals I do are the ones we say no to.” — Kris Foster, president of equipment finance and specialty industries, Pinnacle

With the equipment finance platform growing to more than $2 billion in assets in just over four years, Pinnacle is also investing in technology to support scale, Foster says.

“We’re in the process of building out additional capabilities with our APIs and integrating those into different platforms so we can better understand our data and make better decisions,” he says. “We’re looking at a lot of different AI products, we’re leveraging CoPilot, we’re using AI to help identify on the sales side some customers.”

Despite increased investment in technology, Pinnacle’s edge is service rather than scale, Foster says.

“We can never outspend the big guys, and I can’t get into a dollar-for-dollar technology war with the big banks out there,” he says. “We’re going to invest in [technology], we’re going to put into … that client experience and make sure we take care of our customers.”