Cullen/Frost Bankers Inc., whose Frost Bank has served Texans since 1868, is bringing its stock listing home to Texas.
The San Antonio-based bank parent plans to switch its shares from the New York Stock Exchange to the Texas Stock Exchange, a move that underscores its Texas roots as the fledgling exchange seeks to establish itself as a rival to New York.
“In the Texas Stock Exchange, we found a natural home for the listing of the shares of the preeminent Texas-based financial institution,” Cullen/Frost Chairman and CEO Phil Green said in an interview Thursday.
Cullen/Frost will begin trading at its new home Nov. 12. It will keep its ticker CFR. Shareholders will notice no changes, Green said.
“There’s no impact on investors,” he added.
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Adding Frost marks a coup for the Dallas-based exchange. Frost is the largest bank based in Texas, with about $55 billion in assets, and ranks among the 50 largest banks in the country.
“America’s economic center of gravity is shifting to Texas, and Cullen/Frost has been helping lay the foundation for over 150 years,” James H. Lee, the Texas Stock Exchange’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement. “Their decision to list with TXSE reflects a shared conviction – that a strong, Texas-based exchange strengthens the flow of capital and the growth of financial-sector jobs across our state. We are proud to have earned the primary listing of the largest Texas-headquartered bank and look forward to a long and productive partnership.”
The switch ends Cullen/Frost’s 29-year affiliation with the New York Stock Exchange.
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During a video call, Green pulled a money clip from his pocket that NYSE officials gave him, engraved with the date Cullen/Frost began trading – Aug. 14, 1997 – and its ticker symbol at the time, CFBI.
Green said there was “no hard sell” by NYSE officials to persuade Cullen/Frost not to leave. Texas Stock Exchange officials contacted Cullen/Frost “early on” to make the jump, he added.
“We have been part of Texas for 158 years,” he said. “And now you have this viable alternative here. We want to be supportive of that industry.”
Frost is just the latest Texas financial institution to join its home-state exchange.
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Laredo-based International Bancshares Corp., parent company of IBC Bank, transferred the primary listing for its common stock from the Nasdaq Stock Market to the Texas Stock Exchange last week under the ticker IBOC. The company has about $17 billion in consolidated assets.
