The TCF brand name, long-standing in Twin Cities banking circles, is going away.

On Sunday night TCF Financial Corp. and Columbus, Ohio-based Huntington Bancshares Inc., announced an all-stock merger to create “a top 10 U.S. regional bank.” The TCF name will ultimately disappear; the new company will have dual headquarters in Detroit and Columbus, Ohio. The deal values TCF at nearly $6 billion.

Huntington Bancshares Inc. is the holding company and parent of The Huntington National Bank; TCF Financial Corp. is the holding company and parent of TCF National Bank.

“This merger combines the best of both companies and provides the scale and resources to drive increased long-term shareholder value. Huntington is focused on accelerating digital investments to further enhance our award-winning people-first, digitally powered customer experience,” said Stephen Steinour, Huntington’s chairman, president, and CEO, in a statement.

The merger may ramp up the bank’s presence as a Small Business Administration lender. Huntington has been the top SBA lender in its region for the last eleven years.

The deal will create a bank with approximately $168 billion in assets. Huntington has 839 branches; TCF has approximately 475 branches.

TCF reported $1.75 billion in revenue for 2019 with a net profit of $295.5 million. Huntington, which is significantly larger, reported revenue of $4.7 billion for 2019 and posted a record $1.4 billion in net earnings.

The Twin Cities already lost TCF’s headquarters in a previous deal in 2019. TCF announced the deal for Detroit-based Chemical Financial Corp., billed as a “merger of equals,” in January 2019.

The TCF name survived but the company’s headquarters moved to Detroit. The TCF deal to combine with Chemical is only a little more than one year old. That transaction closed on August 1, 2019.

TCF has about 80 banking branches in Minnesota.

Vance Opperman, the lead independent director on the TCF board of directors, said that increased costs for regulatory compliance, technology, and cybersecurity are a key factor driving consolidation in the banking industry.

“The scale advantages are overwhelming. Tech investment alone requires larger scale…Competition from traditional banks has become nationwide,” said Opperman. “I am a very strong and early supporter of well thought out mergers, acquisitions to build scale.”

Opperman, who first joined the TCF board in 2009, is the president and CEO of Minneapolis-based Key Investment Inc., which owns Twin Cities Business magazine.

“This is a very good deal for TCF stockholders; an immediate 12 percent premium, greater scale, and an upside with the new company,” said Opperman. “The TCF tech expertise, nationwide asset-based lending platform, and strong customer deposit base mean our core Minnesota base will likely expand.”

The deal calls for five TCF directors to join the board of the new, combined company. Opperman said that he does not know yet if he will be on the new board.

The merger is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021.

TCF Bank Stadium kept its name after the bank’s last merger. And, at least for now, it will stay that way.

“At this point, we’re aware of the announced merger, and we will be discussing with Huntington Bancshares leadership what this change will mean for the naming of what is currently TCF Bank Stadium,” said Jake Ricker, a spokesman for the University’s athletics department.

Steinour told the Star Tribune that the name would change “over time,” but added that Huntington wants to be “sensitive to the history and the legacy of TCF and the stadium.”

Previous TCF CEO Craig Dahl retired at the end of October, just seven weeks before the announcement of the deal.

TCF started in Minneapolis in 1923 as the Twin City Building and Loan Association. In 1936 it was renamed Twin City Federal Savings and Loan Association. Longtime CEO Bill Cooper, who took TCF Financial Corp. public in 1986, died in 2017.

Metro residents who are old enough will remember that back in the 1970s, Minnesota Vikings player “Benchwarmer” Bob Lurtsema did a series of comic television ads for TCF.