Adds CEO quotes, details, share move in paragraph 3-12

By Nupur Anand

NEW YORK, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Fifth Third FITB.O CEO Tim Spence said discussions to buy regional bank Comerica CMA.N started a few weeks ago when the latter company's CEO Curtis Farmer called to discuss a deal, Spence told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.

Fifth Third announced an agreement on Monday to buy Comerica in an all-stock deal valued at $10.9 billion. It was the biggest U.S. bank deal of the year and would create the nation's ninth-largest lender.

Fifth Third's last attempt to buy a bank was during the regional banking crisis in 2023, Spence said. It unsuccessfully bid for failed First Republic Bank, which was ultimately acquired by JPMorgan Chase.

Dealmaking has gained momentum under the Trump administration, which has pledged to streamline the merger process. Regional lenders have led the charge in an effort to expand their businesses to compete with larger rivals. In 2025, nearly 20 deals worth over at least $200 million have been announced among regional banks.

Comerica CEO Farmer told Reuters on Monday that the administration's pro-business stance was one of the factors behind the deal's timing .

While the transaction still requires approval from regulators and some additional due diligence, the parties have been in contact with regulators and are confident the transaction will get the green light from the government.

"If you look at the recent merger applications that were submitted by other banks, approvals on them have come back much faster in a three-to-six month window, compared to 12 months earlier," Spence said.

Farmer expressed similar confidence in an earlier interview with Reuters.

Analysts at Barclays expect the deal to improve Fifth Third's scale, geographic footprint and profits.

The combination will expand the bank's presence in Texas, California and Arizona, and in serving middle-market businesses, Spence said.

"It provides an accelerant to what is already a very strong commercial payments business," Spence said. "The deal got priced at a healthy premium for Comerica shareholders and with zero dilution to book value per share for Fifth Third shareholders, making it an accretive deal," he added.

Shares of Comerica have risen over 32% this year while Fifth Third is up over 5%, compared to the regional banking index .KRX which is up over 12% in 2025.

(Reporting by Nupur Anand in New York, editing by Lananh Nguyen and Nick Zieminski)

((Nupur.Anand@thomsonreuters.com; +1 646 240 2975;))