Counting the Wins: The Most Common Synergies in a Commercial Bank + Private Bank Merger—and How to Calculate Them

Introduction: Why Synergy Hunting Is the Sport of Choice in Bank M&A

Mergers and acquisitions in banking come with an unusually high coffee intake and an equally high expectation of “synergies.” Whether you’re combining a commercial bank with a private bank to scale, diversify, or survive, the post‑merger integration (PMI) often stands or falls on how well you identify, quantify, and capture those synergies. Deals get signed on a thesis; integrations succeed on math and follow‑through.

This article is written for seasoned M&A professionals who know the basics but want a practical, structured guide to synergy value when combining a commercial bank and a private bank—and, critically, how to calculate and realize it. We’ll cover cost and revenue levers, capital and liquidity benefits, the operational realities of day‑to‑day change, and a playbook for PMI planning that sets you up for success. Expect a professional tone with the occasional quip—because if we can’t laugh while mapping core systems and harmonizing FTP, what are we even doing here?

Why Do Deals Happen? Many Rationales, One Overarching Goal

Bank acquisitions rarely have a single driver. Common rationales include:

• Scale: Spread fixed costs over a larger base—technology platforms, regulatory compliance, model risk management, fraud, and cybersecurity are expensive, and unit costs fall with scale.
• Diversification: Balance across geographies, client segments (mid‑market vs. UHNW), products (lending, deposits, payments, wealth), and fee vs. spread income.
• Distribution: Access to new markets and channels—think commercial hubs that can feed private banking, or a private bank’s affluent footprint seeding commercial opportunities.
• Capability acquisition: Buy product depth (structured credit, complex wealth advisory, family office services) or teams you can’t build fast enough organically.
• Balance sheet optimization: Improve funding profile through a better deposit mix, reduce RWA drag via model and policy alignment, and gain treasury synergies.
• Defensive logic: Preempt rivals, defend share, or accelerate digital transformation.

Even with diverse rationales, the gravitational center is synergy capture. Strategic narratives matter, but a tight, credible, and well‑executed synergy case is what pays for the premium and underwrites the ROE story.

Types of Synergies: The Working Map

You’ll typically pursue four buckets:

• Cost synergies: Savings from eliminating duplicative costs or operating more efficiently together than apart. Examples: overlapping branch sites, duplicative head office roles, vendor consolidation, IT decommissioning, streamlined back office.
• Revenue synergies: Incremental revenue from cross‑selling, product penetration, pricing discipline, and broader distribution. Examples: converting commercial owners to private banking AUM, harmonizing lending pricing, treasury services penetration.
• Capital and liquidity synergies: Optimization of risk‑weighted assets (RWA), high‑quality liquid assets (HQLA), funds transfer pricing (FTP), and hedging programs to improve NIM and ROE.
• Tax synergies: Real but constrained; treat as contingent upside until structured and validated.

For the avoidance of doubt: a cost synergy is an expense reduction achievable because the combined bank can run the same (or more) business with fewer resources than the two standalone banks. A revenue synergy is incremental top‑line generated because the combined bank can sell more (or at better prices) than the sum of the two standalone banks.

Cost Synergies: Where the Hard Dollars Live

1) Branch and Footprint Rationalization

• What it is: Consolidate overlapping branches, wealth hubs, and commercial banking centers—especially where sites sit within the same catchment.
• How to calculate: Annual run‑rate savings = (number of locations closed × average operating cost per location) − (attrition impact on net revenue × margin) − one‑time costs (lease exits, moves, refurbishment, signage).
  Key inputs: rent and occupancy, staffing allocation, security, utilities, local market attrition assumptions, and community/regulatory considerations.
• Timing and risk: Realization typically 6–18 months post‑close. Attrition and regulatory approvals are the big wildcards.
• Day‑to‑day impact: Team consolidation, portfolio re‑bucketing, client communication campaigns, and local relationship management become frontline priorities.

2) Workforce and Organization Overlap

• What it is: Remove duplicative head‑office and managerial layers; unify shared services.
• How to calculate: Annual run‑rate savings = (FTEs eliminated × fully loaded cost per FTE) − one‑time severance and transition costs.
  Layer probabilities by function (for example, 90% back office, 60% front office leadership) and phase‑in curves (for example, 30% in Year 1, 80% in Year 2, 100% in Year 3).
• Day‑to‑day impact: Fewer approval layers and clearer decision rights; an initial period of change fatigue and retraining before throughput improves.

3) Vendor and Procurement Consolidation

• What it is: Consolidate spend across duplicative vendors and renegotiate pricing.
• How to calculate: Annual run‑rate savings = (addressable vendor spend × weighted average discount achieved) − switching and termination costs.
  Segment “monopoly vendors” (core banking, custody) where credible exit options unlock larger concessions.
• Day‑to‑day impact: Fewer contracts and tools, standardized processes, and a procurement team elevated to “deal athlete” status in Year 1.

4) IT Systems Consolidation

• What it is: Decommission redundant platforms (CRM, core modules, loan origination, portfolio management, AML/KYC) and migrate to a target stack.
• How to calculate: Annual run‑rate savings = (legacy system run‑costs avoided + license consolidation savings) − (migration costs + dual‑run period + data remediation + integration).
  Include explicit assumptions for dual‑run months, conversion windows, and regulatory model re‑validation.
• Day‑to‑day impact: Fewer screens, one CRM, and a single source of truth—after a learning curve and a period of parallel operations.

5) Operations and Back‑Office Efficiency

• What it is: Consolidate payments processing, loan operations, trade services, reconciliations, client onboarding, document management, and call centers.
• How to calculate: Annual run‑rate savings = (baseline throughput × productivity uplift × unit cost) + (FTE reductions × fully loaded cost) − automation and migration costs.
  Track cycle time, right‑first‑time rates, STP percentages, and backlog reductions.
• Day‑to‑day impact: Standardized SOPs, fewer handoffs, measurable SLAs, and automation of repetitive tasks.

6) Real Estate and Facilities

• What it is: Rationalize head office locations, wealth centers, training sites, and archives.
• How to calculate: Annual run‑rate savings = (square footage eliminated × fully loaded cost per square foot) − (lease exit penalties + fit‑out for receiving sites).
  Account for hybrid working patterns and space per FTE targets.
• Day‑to‑day impact: More hoteling and collaboration space; fewer paper rooms (may they rest in peace).

7) Regulatory, Risk, and Compliance Consolidation

• What it is: Unify policies, models, monitoring, and reporting; consolidate external audit scope.
• How to calculate: Direct cost savings are reductions in external audit/consulting spend, model validation costs, and reg‑tech subscriptions. Indirect savings include fewer operational risk events—attribute cautiously and only with evidence.
• Day‑to‑day impact: One control library and fewer overlapping audits; cleaner management information (MI) and more predictable regulatory interactions.

8) Treasury, Finance, and Payments Cost Efficiencies

• What it is: Consolidate payment scheme memberships, streamline hedging operations, and improve funding operations.
• How to calculate: Payment cost savings = (scheme fees per transaction × volume × negotiated rate change). Hedging ops savings are the difference between pre‑merger and post‑merger hedging costs multiplied by volumes, minus any incremental basis risk cost.
• Day‑to‑day impact: One FTP playbook, consistent internal pricing, and simplified processes.

9) Marketing and Brand

• What it is: Single brand strategy; consolidate agencies, sponsorships, and martech stacks.
• How to calculate: Annual run‑rate savings = (agency and media spend consolidation × discount or elimination rate) − rebrand and transition costs.
• Day‑to‑day impact: Unambiguous positioning in market and a unified creative pipeline.

Revenue Synergies: Where the Upside Lives (and CFOs Get Nervous)

General approach: Decompose into volume × price × mix, adjust for retention/attrition and ramp time, then subtract cannibalization and execution friction.

Generic formula: Revenue uplift in Year t = (base × penetration uplift × take‑up rate × pricing or margin) × ramp in Year t × realization probability − cannibalization.

1) Commercial ↔ Private Bank Cross‑Sell

• What it is: Turn commercial owners and executives into private banking clients; bring private clients’ operating businesses into commercial banking.
• How to calculate: AUM fee uplift = (number of eligible commercial clients × conversion rate × average AUM per converted client × fee rate) − attrition or cannibalization.
  Similarly, commercial cross‑sell uplift can be modeled as (number of eligible private clients owning businesses × conversion rate × average commercial ARPU) × ramp × probability.
• Execution enablers: Joint coverage, formal referral protocols, common CRM, and aligned incentives that award shared credit.

2) Deposit Mix and Pricing Optimization

• What it is: Use combined scale to improve deposit mix and enforce pricing discipline.
• How to calculate: NIM uplift = (in‑scope interest‑bearing liabilities × change in average cost of deposits).
  Adjust for repricing lags, competitive responses, and balance stability.
• Execution enablers: Pricing authority harmonization, exception approval workflow, and an FTP that rewards sticky deposits.

3) Lending Pricing and Product Harmonization

• What it is: Align rate floors, fees, and structures; standardize term sheets and reduce bespoke exceptions; migrate to better‑performing credit products.
• How to calculate: Lending revenue uplift = (in‑scope loan balances × change in yield) − (attrition impact × margin).
  Include timing by portfolio (revolving vs. term), credit risk, and RWA effects.
• Execution enablers: Unified credit policy, consistent risk appetite, and a single pricing council.

4) Wealth Management AUM Migration and Fee Uplift

• What it is: Migrate legacy portfolios to higher‑value advisory or discretionary models (where suitable), increase alternatives penetration, and introduce securities‑based lending.
• How to calculate: Wealth fee uplift = (AUM migrated × change in blended fee rate) − (discounts and concessions + platform costs).
  Prioritize via client segmentation to target high‑likelihood movers.
• Execution enablers: Advisor enablement, proposal tools, and coordinated credit/wealth planning.

5) Treasury Services and Payments Penetration

• What it is: Expand cash management, merchant acquiring, FX, and trade services among under‑penetrated commercial clients; offer specialized payments support for family offices.
• How to calculate: Incremental fee revenue = (number of target clients × take‑up rate × average fee per client) − cannibalization.
• Execution enablers: Embedded treasury specialists, fast‑track onboarding, and transparent pricing playbooks.

6) Product Innovation and Bundling

• What it is: Bundle lending + deposits + wealth planning with relationship pricing and recognition tiers (owner‑operator packages, cross‑segment benefits).
• How to calculate: Revenue uplift = (increase in attach rates × eligible base × ARPU per attachment) × ramp × realization probability.
• Execution enablers: Reduced SKU complexity, sales enablement, and front‑to‑back fulfillment that actually delivers the bundle on time.

7) Geographic Coverage and Referral Networks

• What it is: Take private banking to commercial strongholds (and vice versa) without building new teams from scratch.
• How to calculate: New‑to‑bank revenue = (new markets × target segment size × market share gain × ARPU) × ramp × probability.
• Execution enablers: Territory realignment, joint pipeline reviews, and localized marketing.

Capital and Liquidity Synergies: Quiet Levers, Big Value

RWA Optimization

• What it is: Harmonize credit models, collateral policies, and exposure methodologies; migrate to lower RWA treatments where permissible; optimize risk mitigation (for example, guarantees and eligible collateral).
• How to calculate: Capital benefit per year (as an economic proxy) = (change in RWA × CET1 requirement percentage) × cost of equity. Alternatively, quantify ROE uplift from reduced capital per unit of earnings.
• Key controls: Model governance, regulatory permissions, and aligned credit culture.

Liquidity Buffer (HQLA) Optimization

• What it is: Consolidate LCR portfolios, optimize asset composition, and align cash flow assumptions.
• How to calculate: Liquidity cost savings = (change in HQLA mix × yield differential) + (change in buffer size × funding cost differential).
• Key controls: LCR and NSFR compliance, stress assumptions, and treasury risk limits.

Funds Transfer Pricing (FTP) Harmonization

• What it is: A unified internal price of funds that drives consistent product behavior across commercial and private banking.
• How to calculate: Direct measurement is tricky; estimate NIM improvement by comparing pre/post contribution margins after FTP, controlling for mix and rate environment. Indirect monetization shows up in mix shifts toward more profitable products.
• Key controls: Governance that prevents “FTP gaming” and ensures client fairness.

Hedging and Securitization Scale

• What it is: Net positions, tighten basis management, and lower spreads through scale pricing; expand securitization options.
• How to calculate: Hedge cost savings = (pre‑merger hedging cost − post‑merger hedging cost) × volume − incremental basis risk cost.
• Key controls: Risk appetite, hedge effectiveness testing, and accounting treatment.

From Theory to Math: A Practical Synergy Model Blueprint

Structure the model by initiative. For each initiative i, define: baseline, lever, ramp, probability, cannibalization, one‑time costs, run costs, and financial flow‑through.

A pattern that works:

• Baseline for initiative i = current cost or revenue in scope.
• Uplift for initiative i in Year t = baseline × lever × ramp in Year t × probability − cannibalization.
• Operating expense to sustain uplift in Year t = incremental run costs (for example, new licenses, enablement).
• One‑time cost across Years t₀ to t₁ = severance, migration, rebrand, lease exits, consultants, dual‑run.
• Net benefit in Year t = uplift − operating expense − one‑time cost for Year t.
• Portfolio NPV = sum over all initiatives and years of (net benefit in Year t divided by (1 + discount rate) to the power t).
• Payback occurs when cumulative net benefit exceeds cumulative one‑time costs.
• Track IRR, Year‑3 and Year‑5 run‑rate targets, and budget flow‑through.

Discount rate: For banks, use cost of equity for post‑tax free cash flows; if modeling pre‑tax operating benefits, align with your investment committee’s WACC/WARA precedent and keep it consistent.

Probability‑weighting: Apply initiative‑level probabilities (for example, 85–95% for signed vendor consolidation, 50–70% for ambitious cross‑sell). Use evidence: pilots, LOIs, or signed approvals.

Ramps: Cost synergies often front‑load (organization, vendor), while revenue synergies follow an S‑curve (pilot, expand, scale).

Worked Examples (With Real‑World Texture)

A) Branch Consolidation

Assume 40 overlapping sites are identified; close 24 within 12 months. Average operating cost per site is 1.2 million. One‑time costs total 20 million for lease exits, moves, and signage. Attrition reduces deposits by 3% on an 8 billion base with a 2.5% margin, or 6 million of annual profit impact.

• Run‑rate savings = 24 × 1.2 million = 28.8 million.
• Net annual savings = 28.8 million − 6 million = 22.8 million.
• Payback (ignoring discounting) = 20 million ÷ 22.8 million ≈ 0.88 years.
• Sensitivity: A 1% higher attrition assumption (on the same base and margin) would reduce net savings by another 2 million, stretching payback to roughly 1.0 year.

B) Commercial‑to‑Wealth Cross‑Sell

Assume 2,500 eligible business owners in commercial banking; convert 15% over three years. Average AUM per new client is 2.0 million; blended fee is 0.75%.

• New clients = 2,500 × 15% = 375.
• AUM uplift = 375 × 2.0 million = 750 million.
• Fee revenue uplift (pre platform costs) = 750 million × 0.75% = 5.625 million per year at steady‑state.
• Add probability: if realization probability is 70%, expected uplift is 3.9375 million.

Execution wrinkle: Require formal referral SLAs and shared crediting. Without aligned incentives, conversion rates often fall by a third.

C) Deposit Pricing Optimization

Assume 30 billion in in‑scope interest‑bearing deposits. Reduce blended cost by 15 basis points through exception control and mix shift.

• NIM uplift = 30 billion × 0.15% = 45 million annually.
• Lag adjustment: If only 60% of balances reprice within Year 1, realized uplift is 27 million in Year 1, ramping to full run‑rate by Year 2.

D) RWA Optimization

Assume a 4 billion reduction in RWA through model harmonization and collateral policy alignment. With a CET1 target of 10.5% and a cost of equity of 12%:

• Capital freed = 4 billion × 10.5% = 420 million.
• Economic value proxy = 420 million × 12% = 50.4 million per year.
• Alternate view: If the freed capital enables additional lending at a 12% pre‑tax ROE, the value capture is embedded in growth rather than explicit cost reduction.

E) Treasury Services Penetration

Assume 3,000 commercial clients are under‑penetrated in treasury services. Target a 25% take‑up over two years; average incremental fee per adopting client is 8,000 annually.

• Incremental fee revenue at steady‑state = 3,000 × 25% × 8,000 = 6.0 million.
• Apply an 80% realization probability for conservative planning → 4.8 million expected uplift.

F) IT Decommissioning

Assume two CRMs (4 million and 6 million annual run costs), two loan origination systems (3 million and 2 million), and duplicative AML tools (1.5 million and 1.5 million). Target a single CRM and LOS, and a unified AML stack. Migration costs are 18 million over two years; dual‑run adds 5 million.

• Run‑rate savings once complete = (4 + 6) + (3 + 2) + (1.5 + 1.5) = 18 million annually.
• Net benefit Year 1: negative due to one‑time spend and dual‑run.
• Breakeven: with 18 million run‑rate savings, and 23 million one‑time/dual‑run, payback occurs in roughly 1.3 years post‑cutover.

How Synergy Capture Changes Day‑to‑Day Work—and Competitiveness

Frontline Coverage: From Siloed to Shared

Commercial relationship managers (RMs) and private bankers move from parallel universes to joint ownership of client relationships. Expect shared pipeline reviews, common CRM, and referral SLAs. Incentives shift: success is measured not only by product sales, but by relationship profitability after FTP and cross‑product penetration. Day to day, this looks like coordinated outreach around liquidity events (sale, dividend recap, IPO), with private bankers ready to onboard the owner’s wealth and commercial RMs ready to bank the owner’s new ventures and operating entities.

Product and Pricing: Discipline with Speed

One pricing council, one exception policy, and one rate sheet (with room for intelligent segmentation). The effect is faster time‑to‑yes and less margin leakage. Teams will notice fewer bespoke terms, more standardized structures, and a clear view of profitability after FTP.

Operations and Technology: The Quiet Revolution

Consolidated workflows reduce handoffs and “swivel‑chair” work across systems. STP rates rise; cycle times fall. Employees see fewer platforms, clearer SOPs, and shared dashboards that make performance visible. Early frustration during migration gives way to better throughput.

Risk, Compliance, and Finance: Fewer Surprises

A single control library and unified models mean fewer audit overlaps, cleaner MI, and stronger regulatory confidence. Finance, risk, and compliance teams spend less time reconciling differences and more time analyzing trends and actions.

Clients: Simpler, Faster, Better

Clients experience simpler onboarding (one KYC journey), unified digital access, and coordinated advice—an owner’s business and personal finances handled seamlessly. As friction disappears, retention improves, pricing power strengthens, and wallet share expands.

Competitiveness: A Sharper Franchise

Combined, the bank’s cost‑to‑income ratio falls, NIM improves from funding and pricing discipline, and ROE strengthens through RWA and liquidity optimization. In market, the bank becomes faster, more predictable, and harder to dislodge.

Common Pitfalls (and How to Avoid Them)

• Over‑optimistic revenue synergy assumptions: Use evidence—pilots, controlled experiments, and historical conversion rates—then probability‑weight. For example, if a pilot shows a 10% conversion with strong enablement, assume 6–8% at scale, not 15%.
• Underestimating one‑time costs and dual‑run: Model parallel operations duration explicitly; assume remediation rework and data cleansing will add 10–20% to initial estimates.
• Cultural and incentive misalignment: You won’t get cross‑sell without paying for it. Remove KPIs that punish collaboration (for example, siloed P&L targets without shared credit).
• Regulatory blind spots: Harmonize model risk management, KYC/AML standards, consumer fairness frameworks, and reporting calendars before major migrations. Pre‑brief supervisors on material changes.
• Client attrition: Stand up a “client retention war room” with early‑warning signals (usage drops, complaint spikes, RM changes, exception pricing reversals). Pre‑empt issues with proactive outreach and transition benefits.
• Zombie systems: Kill legacy platforms promptly post‑migration. Every month of dual‑run erodes NPV and saps operational focus.
• Value leakage in budgets: Tie synergy targets to budget and run‑rate, not just to a slide. Savings not reflected in budgets have a habit of evaporating.

PMI Planning: How to Set Yourself Up for Synergy Success

1) Integration Management Office (IMO) + Value Realization Office (VRO)

The IMO runs the program; the VRO tracks the money. Use a single book of record with initiative IDs, owners, milestones, baselines, targets, one‑time costs, and P&L flow‑through. Create a weekly cadence for top‑10 blockers with clear escalation paths.

2) Clean Team and Day‑1 Blueprint

Set up a clean team pre‑close to size synergies without sharing client‑identifiable information. Produce a Day‑1/Day‑100 blueprint that clarifies what changes now, what must wait, and how decisions are made.

3) Decision Rights and Governance

Define who decides what and on what timeline: pricing council scope, platform choices, operating model, and policy harmonization. Timebox decisions to avoid drift. Adopt “two‑way door vs. one‑way door” thinking to move quickly on reversible choices.

4) Frontline Model and Incentives

Design joint coverage with shared revenue and profitability goals. Include referrals, adoption, retention, and profitability after FTP in scorecards. Update commission plans to reward multi‑product depth and long‑term relationship economics.

5) Communications—Clients and Employees

Over‑inform with FAQs, timelines, and “what’s changing/what’s not” guides. Provide white‑glove support for top clients. For employees, give role clarity, training, and visible career paths in the new model to reduce change anxiety.

6) Technology and Data Migration Discipline

Lock a target architecture and sequence migrations. Decommission early and often. Build a data dictionary, canonical client identifiers, reconciliation routines, and a cross‑functional data council. Use dry‑runs and cutover rehearsals to derisk go‑lives.

7) Risk and Controls Integration

Rationalize the control library, align policies, and conduct control attestation sprints before major cutovers. Stage regulatory submissions and agree on supervisory engagement plans.

8) Benefits Tracking and Budget Flow‑Through

Track both run‑rate and cumulative benefits; link to the budget cycle so savings don’t get re‑spent. Attribute benefits to P&L owners and report transparently to the executive committee and board.

9) Quick Wins vs. Foundations

Secure fast, visible wins (for example, exception pricing cleanup, vendor discounts) to build momentum. Simultaneously invest in foundation moves (core consolidation, FTP redesign) that deliver outsized value later.

10) Value Backlog

Create and maintain a “value backlog”—a prioritized list of incremental synergy ideas discovered during integration. Fund the best ideas quickly through a small “innovation/PMI accelerator” budget with light governance and measurable outcomes.

Operationalizing Assumptions: Guardrails for Credibility

• Triangulate baselines: Use GLs, cost center reports, HRIS, vendor contracts, and operational KPIs. Reconciling these sources lowers the risk of double‑counting or omissions.
• Evidence beats optimism: Run pilots for cross‑sell and pricing changes; conduct A/B tests; sunset a small book on a legacy system before full migration to gauge effort and defects.
• Probability‑weight at the initiative level: Not all dollars are equally likely. Mature cost plays (signed contracts) can be at 90%+, while behavioral revenue plays sit at 50–70% until proven.
• Flow‑through discipline: Tie synergy realization to budget and actuals. If Opex is “saved” but not removed from the budget, it wasn’t really saved.
• Transparent governance: Keep an audit trail for assumptions and changes. Regulators and boards like clarity almost as much as cash.

Frequently Asked Quant Questions (With Straight Answers)

Q: What discount rate should I use?
A: For post‑tax cash benefits, most banks use the cost of equity as a hurdle; for pre‑tax operating benefits, some use a WACC proxy. Be consistent with investment committee precedent and sensitivity‑test ±200 bps.

Q: How do I avoid double‑counting between cost and capital synergies?
A: Keep separate initiative IDs and a reconciliation bridge. For example, if RWA optimization frees capital that funds growth, don’t also count it as a “cost reduction”; present it as ROE uplift or capacity to invest.

Q: How aggressive should revenue synergy probabilities be?
A: Start with pilot‑backed rates and haircut by rollout risk and competitive response. A typical pattern is 60–70% in Year 1 growing to 80–90% as processes stabilize.

Q: What’s a reasonable attrition assumption during footprint consolidation?
A: It’s market‑specific, but ranges of 2–5% on deposits with mitigation are common in established franchises. Build a retention program and monitor leading indicators to manage down the risk.

Bringing It Together: An Executive Scorecard

For board and exec visibility, track:

• Run‑rate synergies: Cost and revenue, with a Year‑3 and Year‑5 target.
• Cumulative cash benefits vs. one‑time costs: The cash waterfall is what CFOs (and boards) remember.
• Key operational KPIs: STP rates, cycle times, pricing exception rates, cross‑sell attach rates, client NPS, employee engagement.
• Regulatory milestones: Model approvals, reporting changes, system migrations pre‑briefed and completed.
• Risk and conduct indicators: Complaint volumes, fairness reviews, and exception pricing governance.

Tie executive compensation to synergy realization and client retention to ensure incentives are aligned with value creation and franchise health.

Conclusion: Make It Count (and Keep It Real)

When a commercial bank and a private bank come together, the synergy opportunity is rich and multi‑dimensional: hard‑dollar cost reductions from footprint, organization, vendors, and tech; revenue expansion from cross‑sell, pricing, and product harmonization; and capital and liquidity levers that quietly turbocharge ROE. The math is not mysterious: define the baseline, isolate the lever, model the ramp, probability‑weight the outcome, subtract one‑time and run costs, and hold people accountable through budget flow‑through.

Most importantly, remember that synergies are realized by people—RMs, advisors, ops specialists, risk teams—working in a new operating model with aligned incentives and clear tools. Do the blocking and tackling: strong IMO/VRO, clean data, pragmatic sequencing, relentless communication, and transparent governance. If you do, your merged bank won’t just hit the numbers—it will feel like one bank to clients and colleagues alike. Which revenue synergy in your past bank deals actually exceeded plan—and why?