Zions Bancorporation, N.A. (ZION) Business Profile

What it does

Zions Bancorporation, N.A. is a bank headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. Harris H. Simmons is its chairman and chief executive officer. The bank serves businesses, households and other customers primarily across the Western United States, offering loans, deposit accounts and services for moving and managing money.

Its commercial banking business focuses primarily on small and medium-sized businesses. It lends to companies, finances commercial property, offers credit cards and processes merchant payments. It also helps customers raise capital, manage interest-rate and foreign-exchange exposure, and carry out transactions such as mergers and acquisitions.

For individuals, Zions offers checking and other deposit accounts, mortgages, home equity and personal loans, credit cards and trust services. Its wealth management business provides investment management, fiduciary services and estate and business succession planning.

The bank operates principally through seven geographically defined divisions, each with its own local brand and management team. Those divisions make local decisions about matters such as pricing and product customization. A central operation supports them with technology, back-office services, capital allocation and risk oversight.

At December 31, 2025, Zions had more than one million customers, 407 branches and approximately $89 billion in total assets. Customers could also use its online, mobile and digital channels.

How it makes money

Zions earns revenue from net interest income and noninterest income. Net interest income is the difference between interest earned on assets such as loans and securities and interest paid on liabilities such as deposits and borrowings. It accounted for 78% of net revenue in 2025. The amount depends on both the balances of those assets and liabilities and the rates earned or paid on them.

In 2025, net revenue was $3.4 billion; in the second quarter of 2026, taxable-equivalent net interest income was $677 million and customer-related noninterest income was $182 million.

The bank also earns fees from retail and business banking, loans, capital markets and other services. Its offerings include cash management, merchant processing, securities underwriting, advisory work and wealth management. Some relationships involve continuing services, such as deposit accounts, cash management and investment management; other fees arise from transactions, lending activity or advisory assignments.

The seven affiliate banks are the primary operating segments. Each serves a geographic market under its own brand, while a central segment provides shared technology and operations, governance, risk oversight and capital allocation. The affiliates have local authority over pricing and product customization.

Funding costs affect what the bank keeps from its interest-earning assets. Zions reported that lower funding costs and a shift toward loans contributed to its 2025 net interest margin of 3.21%, compared with 3.00% in 2024. It also said it was seeing some loan spread compression amid competition for loans and deposits.

Customers and how it sells

Zions serves commercial customers, primarily small and medium-sized businesses, as well as consumers and commercial real estate borrowers. Its services also include public finance, correspondent banking, capital markets and wealth management. Business customers can use the bank for both credit and services such as deposit accounts, cash management, card payments and merchant processing.

The bank operates primarily in 11 Western states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. Its divisions operate under local brands and management teams. The Commerce Bank of Washington also operates as The Commerce Bank of Oregon in Oregon.

At December 31, 2025, Zions had more than one million customers served through 407 branches and online, mobile and digital channels. It emphasizes locally informed pricing and product customization alongside its centralized technology infrastructure.

Zions introduced the Business Beyond deposit and payments account for small businesses in the second quarter of 2026, as a companion to its Gold account for consumers. The bank said it had opened over 10,000 Gold and Business Beyond accounts combined in 2026 through the call date.

Suppliers and costs

Zions funds its operations through deposits, borrowings, equity and the repayment or sale of assets. Its investment securities also provide contingent liquidity: the bank can pledge securities as collateral for secured borrowing. It manages its deposit portfolio and associated funding costs as interest rates change.

Cash payments for interest totaled $1.6 billion in 2025. Noninterest expenses include salaries and employee benefits, technology, telecommunications, information processing, marketing, deposit insurance and regulatory costs. Noninterest expense increased $92 million, or 4%, in 2025, primarily because of higher salaries and benefits and increases in several other expense categories.

Zions had 9,195 full-time equivalent employees at December 31, 2025. Its affiliate banks use centralized technology and back-office operations, with centrally provided services allocated to segments based on estimated or actual usage.

Zions also said it was experiencing pressure from vendor price increases and software maintenance costs. Its liquidity arrangements include access to Federal Home Loan Bank advances and the Federal Reserve’s primary credit facility, using eligible collateral.

Competitive position

Zions competes for loans, deposits and other banking services with commercial banks, credit unions, financial technology companies and private credit or debt funds. It also faces competition from finance companies, insurers, investment banks, securities firms and other financial institutions. Zions does not identify individual competitors by name.

Some competitors pursue customers remotely without a physical presence in Zions’ markets. Credit unions are active competitors in several of its states, including Utah and Idaho. Zions says some competitors operate with fewer regulatory constraints and may have lower operating costs, tax advantages or greater ability to deliver new financial products and technology.

Zions identifies its local knowledge, branch network, range of services and customer relationships as competitive strengths. Its affiliates have local management and pricing authority, while central teams provide shared technology and oversight. Zions also reported competition for deposits and some compression in loan spreads.

Our reading: Local brands and decision-making provide a basis for customer relationships, but their strength as a moat is limited by remote competitors that can serve the same markets without branches. Our reading: Offering several banking and advisory services can support continuing relationships, but competition for deposits and loans can still put pressure on the prices Zions earns or pays.

Growth opportunities

Zions’ growth strategy centers on commercial banking, small business banking, capital markets, wealth management and consumer banking. Its initiatives include expanding small business lending, broadening access to wealth management, developing capital markets capabilities and strengthening consumer deposit relationships. The bank also invests in technology, marketing, employee development and data tools to support those priorities.

In the second quarter of 2026, Zions introduced Business Beyond, a deposit and payments account for small businesses. It said the account is designed to support needs ranging from basic banking to cash-flow management and money movement. Together with the consumer Gold account, the two products had opened over 10,000 accounts in 2026 through the call date.

Zions also agreed to acquire Basis Investment Group’s Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac multifamily lending business, related mortgage servicing rights and the supporting team. The bank expects the transaction to close in the third quarter of 2026. It expects the financial benefits to build gradually as it integrates the platform and lending production increases; the transaction had not closed and its contribution was not included in the bank’s outlook.

Zions reported that average loans grew 4.7% on an annualized basis in the second quarter of 2026, led by commercial lending. It also said its capital markets pipelines were strong going into the third quarter.

Structural risks

• Credit: Deteriorating credit quality can hurt performance. In 2025, net loan and lease charge-offs totaled $89 million, with the increase driven primarily by a loss on two related commercial loans. Nonperforming assets were concentrated in commercial and industrial, commercial real estate and residential loan portfolios.
• Interest rates and funding: Changes in market rates affect loan and securities yields and funding costs. Zions reported competition for deposits and some loan spread compression, both of which affect the terms on which it can fund and make loans.
• Liquidity: Fluctuations in available liquidity and capital could restrict operational flexibility and growth. At December 31, 2025, available liquidity exceeded estimated uninsured deposits without a securities sale, but the bank must manage potential deposit runoff and other funding needs.
• Technology and cybersecurity: System vulnerabilities, failures, outages or cybersecurity threats could disrupt operations and customer-facing services and adversely affect financial performance.
• Regulation and capital: Banking laws restrict activities and impose oversight and compliance costs. Capital requirements and other rules may limit dividends, share repurchases or access to capital markets; changes in rules or their enforcement could affect operations and performance.

Bottom line

Our reading

Our reading: Zions is a relationship-focused regional bank whose earnings depend principally on the spread between what it earns on assets and what it pays for funding, supplemented by banking and advisory fees. Its local brands and range of services support those relationships, while credit losses, deposit competition and interest-rate changes remain central exposures. The planned multifamily lending acquisition adds a potential growth route, but its contribution depends on closing and integration.