(Bloomberg) -- Truist Financial Corp. has hired investment banker Jerry Wiant from Bank of America Corp. to lead its financial institutions practice, according to people familiar with the matter, as the lender seeks to bulk up in corporate an investment banking. 

Wiant, who was most recently Bank of America’s head of banks and specialty finance, will help Truist build out an advisory franchise catering to financial firms, said the people, who asked to not be identified because the matter isn’t public. 

Representatives for Truist and Bank of America declined to comment. 

Truist, a big regional bank formed in 2019 through the merger of BB&T and SunTrust, has been hiring aggressively in the past year to build a Wall Street advisory business under Royal Bank of Canada alum Michael Carter. Last year, it hired some telecom investment bankers from Wells Fargo & Co. and a private equity banker from Credit Suisse Group AG. 

Wiant joined Bank of America about two years ago from Credit Suisse. He also previously worked at Lazard Ltd. and Royal Bank of Canada, where he built up and co-headed the US financial institutions group. 

A bank mergers and acquisitions specialist, he has worked on deals including PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s $11.5 billion purchase of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA’s US business in 2021 and RBC’s $5.4 billion deal in 2015 for City National Corp. 

--With assistance from Max Reyes.

©2023 Bloomberg L.P.