Truist Financial has agreed to sell $5.5 billion in auto loans, effectively all of the assets of its Regional Acceptance Corporation subsidiary, and exit near-prime auto lending entirely. The bank expects the deal to close in late third or early fourth quarter 2026, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The numbers explain the move better than the “doesn’t play to our strengths” language banks usually reach for. Truist expects $5.2 billion in net proceeds, a $535 million loan loss reserve recapture, and $945 million, about 22 basis points, of new CET1 capital. Non-performing loans drop by more than 10 basis points and net charge-offs by roughly 10 basis points a year. Regional Acceptance was close to breakeven on a pre-tax basis through the first half of 2026. This is a capital and credit-quality trade, not a business Truist was actively losing money on.
The original insight for finance leaders: this is the second consumer-lending retreat from Truist this year, after it stopped writing marine and recreational-vehicle loans, with a broader strategic review still underway. Regional banks sitting on non-core consumer lending books that are capital-intensive relative to their earnings contribution should expect more of this. Regulators have been giving community and regional banks more room on exam cycles this year, which makes it easier for banks to pursue this kind of balance sheet cleanup without a supervisory fight over the timing.
Other regional lenders have been reshaping their loan books toward higher-margin, lower-capital business this year too, and Truist’s near-prime auto exit fits that same pattern: shed capital-heavy, thin-margin consumer credit, and redeploy into share buybacks and higher-return lending.
Source: Truist Financial SEC filing
