s & p 500 component industry financial services headquarters 127 public square cleveland ohio 44114 1 products banking revenue 4.114 billion 2013 net income 887 million 2013 total assets 98.4 billion 2016 2 number of employees 14 000 2013 website www.key.com keybank nyse key is an american regional bank headquartered in cleveland ohio . as of 2013 update it is the 22nd largest bank in the united states based on total deposits . 3 it is the 29th largest bank in the united states by total assets . 4 since 2008 keybank has been the only major bank based in cleveland . keycorp s primary regulator under the bank holding company act is the federal reserve while keybank national association is a nationally chartered bank regulated by the office of the comptroller of the currency federal deposit insurance corporation fdic . other subsidiaries are subject to regulation from consumer financial protection bureau cfpb u.s. securities and exchange commission and other customary regulatory bodies . 5 as of 2013 keybank had approximately 14 000 employees 6 and a diverse client base . key s customer base spans retail small business corporate and investment clients . there are 1 000 keybank 6 branches located in alaska colorado idaho indiana kentucky maine michigan new york ohio oregon utah vermont and washington and 1 300 atms ; its recent acquisition of first niagara bank will add connecticut massachusetts and pennsylvania to key s footprint . keycorp maintains business offices in 31 states . as of 2015 key was ranked 592 on the fortune 500 list . 7 contents 1 history 1.1 society corporation society national bank 1.2 keybank 1.3 transformational merger 1.4 further transformation 1.5 2002 through present 2 naming rights 3 controversy 4 references 5 external links history edit keycorp headquarters in cleveland ohio key bank branch in springboro ohio keybank tower in dayton ohio keybank north & south tower in buffalo new york keybank tower at city creek center in salt lake city utah . keybank is the leading subsidiary of keycorp nyse key which was formed in 1994 through the merger of society corporation of cleveland society bank and keycorp old keycorp of albany new york . the merger would briefly make key the 10th largest us bank . its roots trace back to commercial bank of albany new york in 1825 and cleveland s society for savings founded in 1849 . society corporation society national bank edit society for savings originated in 1849 as a mutual savings bank founded by samuel h. mather . in 1867 the modest but growing bank would build cleveland s first skyscraper a 10 story building on public square . despite erecting the tallest structure between new york and chicago at the time the bank remained extremely conservative . that aspect is highlighted by the fact that when it celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1949 it still only had one office although it had over 200 million in deposits . this conservatism helped the bank sidestep the numerous depressions and financial panics . in 1958 society would convert from a mutual to a public company which enabled it to grow quickly by acquiring 12 community banks between 1958 and 1978 under the banner society national bank . it would go through another growth spurt from 1979 to 1989 as it swallowed dozens of small banks and completed four mergers worth one billion dollars most notably cleveland based central national bank in 1986 . in 1987 society ceo gordon e. heffern retired and was succeeded as robert w. bob gillespie who although just 42 was a major figure and part of the office of the chairman for more than 5 years . 8 a year later gillespie would add the title of chairman . gillespie started as a teller with society to earn money while he was finishing his graduate studies . 9 in the three years leading up to the keycorp merger society corporation acquired toledo based trustcorp in 1990 and cleveland trust the major bank of holding company clevetrust corporation in september 1991 a venerable cleveland bank and ohio s largest bank during the 1940s through the late 1970s . the cleveland trust deal put society on the map as a large regional bank . the jewel of cleveland trust was its robust personal and corporate trust businesses . however its footing became unsteady due to bad real estate loans forcing the resignation of cleveland trust chairman jerry v. jarrett in 1990 . moreover gillespie was able to one up society s larger up the street archenemy national city bank which also bid for cleveland trust . 10 keybank edit in 1825 new york governor dewitt clinton signed a bill chartering the commercial bank of albany . in 1865 commercial bank was reorganized under the national banking act of 1864 and changed its name to national commercial bank of albany . over a hundred years would pass before national commercial would merge with first trust and deposit to become first commercial banks in 1971 still a modest new york state bank with 89 offices . victor j. riley jr. born 1931 in buffalo new york became president and ceo in 1973 . first commercial would change its name to key bank inc. in 1979 . 11 riley embarked on a plan to grow key through acquisitions . from the mid 1970s to early 1980s it made numerous acquisitions throughout upstate new york . beginning in the 1980s riley looked outside new york expanding key s footprint with an acquisition in maine . however by the mid 1980s the state banking regulators within new england began to scoff at the idea of new york banks controlling their capital . that coupled with increasing competition for acquisition targets caused riley to essentially abandon the northeast . instead he began searching for prey in the pacific northwest . riley found a target rich environment in rural and underserved areas . he snapped up small banks in wyoming idaho utah washington and oregon . he even went so far as to buy two banks in alaska for which he was flogged in the media and in banking circles . unorthodox strategy aside riley quintupled key s assets from 3 billion to 15 billion in just four years between 1985 and 1990 . while the early 1990s recession rocked many banks key had ample capital . in fact it would buy the assets of two failed thrifts from the government empire federal savings and loan and goldome savings bank . once the recession passed key returned to the hunt mostly tuck in deals within its existing footprint . for instance in march 1992 it bought tacoma based puget sound bancorp for 807.2 million to bolster its presence in washington . 12 also in 1992 key acquired home federal savings of fort collins its first move into colorado . key soon amassed nearly 700 banking offices . 13 by 1993 the rural strategy with local management and minimal technology made key a very profitable bank . however it was getting tougher for riley and cfo william dougherty to maintain their 15 percent return on equity target and investors were cooling on key stock after many high growth years . accordingly key began testing a vision 2001 computer system which would speed up and enhance the loan process through faster credit scoring loan servicing and collection capabilities . transformational merger edit although gillespie had built society into a regional powerhouse in the midwest he wanted to vault the bank into the big leagues . he concluded key a bank with similar ambitions was a suitable partner . society and key held talks in 1990 at gillespie s prompting but riley decided to stay the course of smaller more lucrative acquisitions with obvious synergies . yet news reports swirled that a possible merger was in the works in the fall of 1993 . key was the 29th largest u.s. bank with 26 billion in assets while society was the 25th largest with 32 billion in assets . 14 both needed a merger to improve their prospects . for its part key needed a succession plan due to the lack of an obvious successor to the 62 year old riley . in one week in june 1993 the bench had become barren chief banking officer james waterston hired the year before quit and publicly stated that he was frustrated with the pace of achieving his goal of running a large bank . the head of keybank of washington hans harjo was pushed out over an apparent dispute to move its headquarters from seattle to tacoma . 15 it also became clear that key would have to undertake a technology infrastructure upgrade to connect its far flung offices . meanwhile society was in search of higher growth and longed to expand its presence outside of the so called rust belt states of ohio michigan and indiana . the merger was announced in early october 1993 . this time it was riley who made the first move . riley recuperating at his albany home after breaking his hip in a horse riding accident in wyoming called gillespie directly . the two quickly sketched out the deal . the banks were roughly the same size in assets and had very little geographic overlap so it was touted as an out of market merger in which few branches would need to be sold off . it would create a 58 billion banking behemoth with a footprint that literally stretched from portland maine to portland oregon . furthermore the deal would plug many of the perceived holes for both partners . 16 the soft spoken gillespie was just 49 and society had cultivated a deep bench of lieutenants . more importantly society had the computer systems and technology expertise to combine the two banks along with capable tech boss allen j. gula . 17 riley also lamented the modest albany international airport which lost service from several major airlines in the 1980s and complicated air travel for key executives . ohio also had lower state taxes than new york . lastly society had recently built a 947 foot headquarters tower that was more commensurate with a major bank than the modest buildings used in albany . these issues made cleveland the preferable location for the new headquarters . conversely key s brand was more recognizable . the deal was structured as a merger of equals . the merged bank retained the key name and was headquartered in cleveland . however society was the nominal survivor ; keycorp retains society s pre 1994 stock price history . the society bank name continued to be used in the former society corporation footprint for an additional two more years before it was retired in june 1996 and all keycorp bank branches wore the keybank name . this change was made so that society bank and keybank customers could bank at any keycorp facility nationwide . it also surrendered its separate charters in favor of a single national charter eliminating the costs of holding separate bank charters in each state . riley would become chairman and ceo of the new keycorp and gillespie would be president and chief operating officer . despite assurances from both riley and gillespie the city of albany and then governor mario cuomo openly fretted that the merger would be bad for the state capital since key and its subsidiaries owned or leased more than 10 percent of albany s commercial office space . 18 as of 2014 only about 225 non branch employees are still based in albany at the keycorp tower . 19 society and key completed the merger on march 1 1994 after regulatory approval . from the outset the integration would be daunting and promised little expense reduction given the complexities and few synergies . wall street analysts were puzzled . 16 although it was touted as a merger of equals key and society