United Bankshares, Inc. is a

bank holding company A bank holding company is a company that controls one or more banks, but does not necessarily engage in banking itself. The compound bancorp (''banc''/''bank'' + '' corp ration') or bancorporation is often used to refer to such companies as w ...

dual-headquartered in

Charleston, West Virginia Charleston () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in West Virginia, most populous city of the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is the county seat of Kanawha County, West Virginia, Kanawha County and ...

and

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with operations in

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, the

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Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

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, and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

in the United States. United Bankshares is the parent company of United Bank which comprises nearly 250 offices in eight states. In addition, UBSI is the parent company to subsidiaries George Mason Mortgage, United Brokerage, and Crescent Mortgage. Based on total deposits, United Bank is the largest bank headquartered in West Virginia and the second largest bank operating in West Virginia, after

Truist Financial Truist Financial Corporation () is an American bank holding company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company was formed in December 2019 as the result of the merger of BB&T (Branch Banking and Trust Company) and SunTrust Banks ...

. It is the eighth largest bank operating in Virginia and the tenth largest bank operating in the District of Columbia.

History

The company traces its roots to

St. Patrick's Day Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick (), is a religious and cultural holiday held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patron saint of Ireland. Saint Patrick's Day was made an official Chri ...

1839, when Northwestern Bank of

opened an office in Parkersburg (now in West Virginia). On St. Patrick's Day, some branches celebrate the bank's birthday by giving

shamrock A shamrock is a type of clover, used as a symbol of Ireland. The name ''shamrock'' comes from Irish (), which is the diminutive of the Irish word and simply means "young clover". At most times'', Shamrock'' refers to either the species ...

s to customers. That office eventually evolved into Parkersburg National Bank. Richard Adams was named chairman and CEO of Parkersburg National Bank in 1975. In 1982, Parkersburg National began reorganizing as a holding company, United Bankshares. In 1984, United commenced full operations when it acquired Parkersburg National and two other banks. In 1987, the company became a

public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of share capital, stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter (finance), over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) co ...

via an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

. Under Adams’s tenure, United completed 33 acquisitions. In 2022,

American Banker ''American Banker'' is a New York-based trade publication covering the financial services industry. Originally a daily newspaper, the print edition ceased publication in 2016, but continues to be published as a print magazine nine times a year. ...

named Richard Adams the “longest-serving CEO among the top 100 U.S. banks” after 47 years. Richard “Rick” Adams, Jr., who has served as United’s president since 2014, became CEO in April 2022.

Acquisitions

The company has made the following acquisitions:

References

External links

* {{authority control 1980s initial public offerings Banks based in West Virginia Banks established in 1839 Holding companies of the United States 1839 establishments in Virginia Companies in the S&P 400