U.S. Bank has branches in 25 states, and that won't change soon

U.S. Bancorp has pushed into national commercial lending over the past few years, but that doesn't mean the company wants to expand its branch footprint outside states where it already does business.

The Minneapolis-based company has branches in 25 states across the western United States and Midwest, with the notable exceptions of Texas and Michigan. It does not have branches in the Deep South or on the East Coast, and CEO Richard Davis says the bank is unlikely to open branches in new states for the foreseeable future.

"I don't want to be in Raleigh, or Atlanta, or Miami, or places I'm not, in some small fashion," Davis said at an investors' conference in New York on Thursday. "It's just not worth it because you're just a small idea in somebody else's big market. You don't have any marketing power and you don't have any visibility.

Asked whether the bank would consider acquiring smaller banks, Davis said they're on the lookout for acquisitions in states where there are already U.S. Bank branches.

"The markets I like least for us is where we're not top 3 and there's more opportunity for us to double down there in those 25 states than to add one more state," he said.

He pointed to the 2014 acquisition of 150 branches in Chicago from Citizens Financial, and the 2011 acquisition of First Community Bank in New Mexico, which put U.S. Bank in the top three for market share in New Mexico, as the types of deals he'd be willing to consider.

"I'd love to do more traditional bank M&A in our 25 states," he said. "I could be inclined to look at adjacent states, but you'd have to go into the top three market share to get my attention."

Adam Belz • 612-673-4405 Twitter: @adambelz