Welcome to the 2018 annual meeting of shareholders of Huntington Bankshares, Incorporated. I'm Steve Steinauer, Chairman, President and CEO. I'm pleased that all of you are with us today. I'd first like to introduce members of our great Board of Directors, and I'll ask each of the Director to stand, as I call his or her name, starting with my to my Rite Aid Porteous. Mike Helpslender.
See, I think you guys mixed the names up on me a little bit. So Gina, France, Thank you. Mike, he could say Mike has a bit of an ankle issue. Mike ENDris, thank you. Steve Elliott.
Bob Cavan, Tanny Crane, Beth Artesana, And we are missing a director. We have a few more to introduce, but we're missing Pete Kite who had a family emergency. So now I'm going to turn to my left, Chris English. John Levy? Eddie Munson?
Rick New, Cathy Rancier. And this is a great Board of Directors. I'm so privileged to be able to serve with them. I want to start by especially acknowledging Mike ENDris, John Levy and Eddie Munson, each of whom will be stepping down from the board, but we're enormously grateful for your commitment and the service each of you provided to us for many years. Thank you very, very much.
Could I ask my colleagues to join in around the globe? Now seated in the section to my left, are the Huntington's executive leadership team, Harry Farber, Andy Harmon, Harri's our internal audit, Andy's Consumer And Business Banking Director Paul Heller, Chief Technology And Operations Officer. Helga Houston, our Chief Risk Officer Mac McCollock, our Chief Financial Officer Dan Newmayer, our Chief Credit Officer Sandy Pierce, executive with Private Banking, our Regional Banking Director Rick Remiker, Director of Commercial Banking Raj Saile, our Chief Human Resources Officer, Mark Thompson, Director of Corporate Operations and Julie Tuckkovitz, Chief Communications And Marketing Director. And seated to my left is Giana Litzy, our General Counsel and Secretary. These are the this group and the next group I want to introduce to you are the ones that do all the work here, leading our colleagues every day.
And this next group is our regional presidents, and we have a great group of regional presidents. I'm going to start with Nick Browning from Akron, John Corbin from Indiana Pete Gillespie from Chicago and with responsibility for Wisconsin as well. John Erwin, West Michigan, Kevin Jones, Southern Ohio and Northern Kentucky Chad Pratter, West Virginia Sean Richardson, Cleveland, Susie Shipley, Pittsburgh in the Ohio Valley, Bill Shivers, Canton, and Mahoney Valley. Sharon Spire, Northwest Ohio, and finally, Suzanne, here in Central Ohio. So with those introductions, I'm now going to David will constantly correct me, and he has to be on his toes.
Here in the meeting. We'll conduct our annual meeting business first and then move on to my report. And then to the extent time permits, and you have questions, We'll have a general discussion and questions. The secretary has advised me that we have a quorum for the conduct of business. Gina, will you lead us through the business of the meeting, please?
Yes, Thank you, Steve. Can you hear me? Perfect. So the printed program you received, as you entered the room, so for today's agenda, the procedures we will follow and the rules governing conduct at this meeting, only share holders as of the record date will be permitted to participate in the business of the meeting and the discussion period. Unless authorized by Huntington know written material may be distributed during the meeting.
This meeting was called by written notice first mailed or made available on March 8, 2018 to all shareholders of record as of February 14, 2018 at least 955,000,000 shares common stock are represented in person or by proxy today, which is over 89% of shares entitled to vote as of the record date. That being more than a majority, clearly a quorum is present. As described in the notice, the purpose of the meeting is to consider and vote upon the following matters. The election of 12 directors, the approval of the 2018 long term incentive plan, the approval of the supplemental stock purchase and tax savings plan, the ratification of the Appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers as the independent registered public accounting firm for 2018 and a resolution to approve on an advisory basis and on a non binding basis, the compensation of executives as disclosed in our proxy statement. The polls for each of these matters voted on at the meeting will be open until all matters have been presented.
We'll now conduct the formal business of the meeting in order to conduct an orderly meeting and to give All shareholders and opportunity to participate will follow the procedures set forth in the program you received when you came in. During the context of formal business, questions and comments from the floor should pertain only to the proposals then under consideration, please. Anyone wishing to speak or ask a question about a proposal should move to the nearest microphone or a microphone will be brought to you. Please note your name, your address, the number of shares you own or represent to our volunteers before asking a question after being recognized, please go on and introduce yourself. The chairman has appointed David Dietrich with Computershare investor services, Huntington's transfer agent to service the Inspector of the election.
The proposals stated in the car to us or voted electronically over the internet or by telephone, your vote has already been recorded. If you are a holder of record as of February 14th this year and did not return a proxy or vote electronically, or if you wish to change your vote, Please raise your hand now and you will be furnished with a ballot. In addition to signing your name, please enter today's date, April 19th, print your name legibly and indicate the number of common shares owned by you as of the record date. I'll now present the proposals. As for proposal number 1, the board of directors proposed the election of 12 directors.
The nominees for directors, if elected, will serve a one year term expiring at the 2019 annual meeting of shareholders. The nominees are all of the directors currently serving with the exception of Mike ENDris, John Levy and Eddie Munson. Election of each nominee requires the affirmative vote of a majority of all votes cast. Proposal number 2 is the approval of the 2018 long term incentive plan. The board of directors believe that its equity based incentive compensation programs are a critical component of our pay for performance philosophy and have made a significant contribution to Huntington's success in attracting and retaining key employees and directors.
The affirmative vote of a majority of the votes cast is required for approval of the 2018 long term incentive plan. Proposal number 3 is the approval of the supplemental stock purchase and top 10 tax savings plan. The Board of Directors believes that ownership of company stock by our senior management is critical, and that the supplemental plan provides an effective vehicle for our key employees to increase their holdings in the firm. The affirmative vote, again, of a majority of the vote ahead, is required for approval of the supplemental stock purchase and tax savings plan. Proposal number 4 is the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for 2018.
The Board of Directors has submitted the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers to the shareholders for ratification today. The affirmative vote of a majority of the votes cast, again, is required for ratification of the appointment. Representatives of Pricewater House Coopers are present at this meeting to respond to any questions you may have during the questioning period. I asked them to stand as I introduce them. Mike Seelig, Great.
Thank you, Mike. And Brian Rudnick or Rudc. Thank you, Brian. A proposal number 5 is the resolution to approve Huntington's executive compensation as disclosed in a proxy statement. The resolution is advisory only.
The affirmative vote of a majority of the votes cast is required for approval of this advisory proposal. All of these proposals are discussed at length and in detail in the proxy statement. The Board of Directors recommends that you vote for the nominees proposed by the board and 4 proposals 2 through 5. Are there any questions related solely to the proposals? Having heard none.
Please raise your hand if you'd like to submit a completed ballot or proxy card. Okay. So the polls will close following the collection of the ballots and proxy cards if there are any. This afternoon. I ask that Ken Valaire Tom Ek and Libby Moore, duly appointed proxies, vote any additional shares, which is not previously been voted.
The inspector has presented a preliminary report, and the inspector has determined that each of the nominees to serve as directors and each of proposals 2 through 5 have received the favorable vote of more than 96% of the votes cast at the meeting. Any votes collected before the polls close will be will be reflected in the final tabulation. The final vote will be verified and recorded in the minutes and filed with the SEC in a report on Form 8 K. Thank you.
Thank you, Gina. Now based on the preliminary report of the inspector, I declare that the board's nominees are elected to the board of directors, 2018 long term incentive plan is approved. The supplemental stock purchase and tax saving plan is approved. The appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers is ratified and the resolution to approve the executive compensation as disclosed in the proxy statement is approved. And this concludes the formal portion of the meeting.
So now I'd like to offer some comments and then we'll proceed to questions or comments. So I'm going to make some forward looking statements today in my presentation So I ask that you review this safe harbor statement that's on the screen in front of you for those in the room. And proceeding. Today's topics, we had another strong year in 2017. We continue to make strides towards becoming the best in class regional bank.
We're working diligently every day to achieve that goal. And to create long term shareholder value. Today, I'd like to touch on a few topics that describe our successes in 2017 and why I'm so optimistic about 2018 and beyond. I'll begin by reviewing 2017 results, including record net income for the 3rd year in a row, and we achieved these results through our consistent disciplined execution. And this also reflects the passion our colleagues have for our customers and our communities.
I can't overemphasize the passion and commitment of our colleagues. There are many regional banks you can invest in, but we believe that our execution has and will continue to distinguish Huntington from our peers. Next, I'll provide a brief update on our strategies, and why I believe they'll allow us to be as successful as a bank and to create shareholder value. Finally, I'll cover some of our 2018 objectives. We'll close with that general question and answer or comment session.
I look forward to your questions and insights. So let's begin turning to Slide 3 for those on the phone. 2017, as I said, marked the 3rd consecutive year of record net income for Huntington. Last year also yielded some exciting results relative to our long term financial goals. In 2014, your board approved these goals as we completed a strategic planning initiative to be achieved over a 5 year of federal tax return, we achieved all 5 of these goals for the full year on a non GAAP basis.
In the fourth quarter of 2017, we also achieved all five of these long term goals for the first time on a GAAP basis. In other words, on a reported basis without any adjustments. Now we know that dividends are important to our shareholders and these strong results allowed us to increase our dividend for the 6th consecutive year in the fourth quarter We increased the quarterly dividend 38 percent to $0.11 a share. Continuing on Slide 4. Last year, I spoke about the successes with the integration of FirstMerit into Huntington.
It's now been over a year since the final systems conversion, and we are a much stronger company with great new colleagues, great new colleagues who joined us from FirstMerit. We have new markets and expanded products and services, And we fully target of $639,000,000 confirming that all cost saves have successfully been implemented. We strengthened the balance sheet. We rebuild capital that we efficiently deployed for the FirstMerit acquisition, we also strengthened our deposit base and diversified our loan portfolio. We've improved scale to support and drive additional growth in the future.
Now continued investment is critical to the future success of any company as we've stated many times, Huntington's focused on creating long term shareholder value. We're always looking at how we can best position ourselves for the future and have made investments in our colleagues and in our businesses that will allow us to drive revenue growth, deliver superior customer experiences and maintain our risk management discipline including adhering to our aggregate moderate to low risk appetite. Slide 5 highlights the core growth in Huntington aided by the 1st full year of the FirstMerit integration. Our balance sheet now exceeds $104,000,000,000, making Huntington the 37th largest bank holding company in the U. S.
Our deposit base now exceeds $78,000,000,000, which represents the 29th largest bank in the United States. In 2017, we also reported annual revenues in excess of $4,000,000,000 for the first time in our of $1,200,000,000 in 2017, which represented a 67% increase over 2016. This is the 5th time in the last 6 years that we've achieved record net income. Earnings per share were $1 which was a 43% annual increase. And this is the highest earnings per share we've reported since the crisis of 2000 and 8 and 9.
And both of these metrics were impacted by 2 largely offsetting items, one time items. The expenses associated with the integration of First Verint and the one time gain from the federal tax reform. Slide 7 details our 2017 performance against our five term financial goals. As I mentioned earlier, these goals were introduced to 2014 with the expectation of achieving them in 2020. As a result of federal tax reform, we've updated 1 of the goals, increasing our goal for turn on tangible common equity, the ROTCE referenced on that slide, from 2 15% to 17%.
It was originally pre that tax change 13% to 15%. You can see that we successfully delivered on our 4 goals on 4 of these goals on a full year GAAP basis, we fell a little short on the efficiency ratio, which was negatively impacted by the cost of of 2017. And we remain very confident that we'll achieve these goals on a full year basis in 2018. 2 years ahead of expectations. Turning to Slide 8.
Being a good steward of your capital is paramount to the success of Huntington, and to delivering superior shareholder returns. Risk Management is an important focus as we manage the company for long term relatively consistent performance. And going back to 2009, we've changed the way we think about credit and about risk. We've derisked the balance sheet and we've changed the way we manage risk throughout the bank. Risk management is now an integral part of the Huntington culture.
This focus can be seen in our 2017 CCAR results. CCAR is the capital planning actions that the federal reserve requires us to take every year. It's the annual stress test that dictates our ability ultimately to pay dividends and the level of these dividends and other uses of capital such as share repurchases. Our 2017 CCAR capital plan received no objection from the Federal Reserve and included the 38% increase in the quarterly dividend to the current $0.11 per share a repurchase of $308,000,000 of common stock, which we completed during the first quarter. We just submitted our 2018 CCAR plan to the Fed earlier this month, so I'm rather limited in what I can say at this point.
And while this year's stress test was more challenging, than in prior years, we believe we were in a better position from both our earnings and capital perspective going in So we're optimistic regarding the outcome. We look forward to sharing those results with you in June when they're released by the Federal Reserve. Now Slide 9 details some of the promises made. When we announced the acquisition of First Barrett, promises made and promises kept I should say, we outlined the targets that we believed were attainable and would take our company to the next level after a successful integration. Included in these targets were 40% cost savings, a greater than 300 basis point improvement to return on tangible common equity and a greater than 400 basis point improvement to our efficiency ratio.
Efficiency ratio is the difference between our revenue and expense. And, the lower that ratio is the better the performance. Each of these targets was surpassed last year, delivering the financial benefits of the acquisition. We're now executing on the revenue enhancement opportunities that were not originally part of the deal economics and which provide future upside. Slide 10 illustrates Huntington's approach to long term shareholder value creation We're committed to doing the right thing for our key constituencies, our colleagues, our customers, our communities and most importantly, you, our shareholders.
And over the years, we've established this purpose driven culture that the purpose is to make lives better to help businesses thrive and strengthen the communities we serve. Our success as a company is deeply connected with our colleagues as well as the people and the communities we serve. We believe we're a large community bank and we believe that by delivering on this purpose, we'll create more long term shareholder value. Now turning to Slide 11, Huntington's core strategy has been in place since 2009, And while we continue to adjust, as you'd expect, the core strategy has not changed. We must grow market share and share of wallet in the businesses that we do.
And we have 3 core businesses where we believe we have built sustainable competitive advantage. We're going we are continuing to grow a profitable and customer centric consumer bank. We are building our reputation and competencies with small businesses and middle market companies. And other companies as well. And we have one of the best auto finance companies in the industry.
We've built a strong foundation of capabilities, products and brand positioning within these businesses. We can and will get better execution as we continue to extend these advantages. Our focus Now turning to slide 12, I'm excited, very excited to announce earlier this month, we launched a new brand campaign. And a sample of this is illustrated on Slide 12. The campaign is very, very different from anything we've done in the past is because we're not promoting products or services or accounts.
Instead, we're promoting this idea and in a dramatic way. It's a simple idea, but we think a very powerful one looking out for people and support of that purpose of the company is the essence of the brand. It's what our colleagues should be doing every day with every one of our customers. Looking out for people is not new and our colleagues are the ones that live this value. Every day and create what we hope is a welcoming culture welcoming to Now given the success of our previous strategic plans, we recently began a new year 3 year strategic planning process.
As shown on slide 13, our past 2 strategic plans significantly advanced the company's financial performance and competitive positioning to continue this momentum, our initial areas of focus for the 2018 strategic planning process, our top line revenue growth, capital Optimizationandbusinessmodelevolution and disruption. The banking industry is rapidly evolving, largely driven that frankly can be breathtaking and game changing in nature, and our new strategic plan will provide a roadmap for how we'll approach these opportunities and challenges in the days ahead. Another important outcome of the strategic planning will be new long term financial goals for the company. We'll complete the strategic plan later this year, subject to the board's approval and expect it to be in a position to communicate the plan and those new financial goals thereafter. Now later this quarter, Huntington will publish its 2nd annual environmental, social and governance report, the acronym is ESG.
Some of you might know this is corporate social responsibility, but the document details many of the powerful things Huntington's doing every day in each of those at least categories. And we're committed to doing the right thing for all of our stakeholders. And if you're interested in reading about our commitment to ESG, you can check our website next month. And I should note that since the EAS environment, the document is going to be online only, but if you don't have access to internet, investor relations can print and mail you a copy. Now next, I want to talk take a moment to talk about the success in aligning management and shareholder interests.
Decision making that focuses on long term returns with adherence to this aggregate moderate to low risk appetite is the key to driving long And we've taken steps to ensure management incentives are aligned with the strategy as highlighted here on Slide 15. We've hold a retirement and call back provisions, call back provisions on all the plans, and we remain industry leading in many respects. Happy to say we implemented most of these changes in 2010. And as a result, the board and management and Huntington colleagues, as a whole, are collectively today the 7th largest shareholder, representing about 27,000,000 shares. So we're all long term shareholders and we're managing Huntington for the long term.
Now Slide 16 highlights our stock performance since 2010. In 2017, we delivered total shareholder returns, which is a combination of stock price appreciation and dividends of 13%. And as you can see, the chart on the left, we slightly underperformed our peers last year But as I've stated before and on many times, we're long term shareholders, so we don't limit our focus to a quarter or a year. We look at it over periods of years. On the chart of the right, you can see the cumulative shareholder returns since January 1, 2010.
We use that because the cycle turned in 2009. The economy technically came out of a recession in the second quarter of 2009. And since that time, Huntington has delivered total shareholder returns of 3 73% compared to 2 43% for our peers. So the outperformance is an indicator of that our strategic plan is working and the execution has been solid. So slide 17, I want to close on this with some brief remarks on our objectives for 2018 and going forward.
We want to create shareholder value. We want to deliver strong returns and that's a primary area of focus. We remain committed to the disciplined and strategically focused execution of our long term plan. We expect to deliver all 5 of our long term financial goals this year on a GAAP basis. We're focused on driving organic growth across all of our businesses.
The local economies across our footprint remain strong and small and medium sized businesses continue to thrive. Consumers are also doing very well. The consumer sentiment is strong. So we're being disciplined with loan pricing and structure making sure we're earning adequate returns for the risks we're taking, we continue to invest in the businesses particularly in technology and in risk management. And we are investing in a new strategic plan, which will help drive hunting to the new levels of success we hope in the future.
Now before I open the, the Florida questions, I just want to take a moment again. I want to extend my deepest thanks and that indeed is the full board to Mike ENDris Mike to the Vienna thing here. Come on. John Levy. Don, where do we have John over here on my left?
And Eddie Munson. Nearly combined 30 years of outstanding service and I mean outstanding service and commitment to Huntington. So thank you, gentlemen, for your tremendous advice and counsel along the way. Your tireless efforts and your extraordinary friendship and collaboration. With all of us.
How about one more round of applause for the 3 events? Thank you. Thank you. So, Gina, we have some procedures for the Q And A period. Do you want to review those quickly?
And then we'll get into this.
Yes, Steve. We always welcome the views, comments, and questions of our shareholders to ensure that this session is both meaningful and constructive We ask the questions and remarks be limited to those of concern or interest to all shareholders, matters which are of a more personal or individual nature generally may be raised with the appropriate members of management during the period following this session. Or at any other time by contacting investor relations. Any shareholder, again, who wishes to speak, should raise their hand and a volunteer will provide you with a microphone. Please, again, provide your name, your address, and the number of shares you own or represent by proxy as a volunteer.
Please wait to be recognized before speaking and state your name, again, prior to asking your question. And again, finally, to be shared to all shareholders, we're going to ask that EV limited to 3 minutes and if time permits, we'll work hard to recognize you a second time.
So with that, let me just ask for any questions comments from our shareholders. I see a few familiar faces who've arrived since stepped up to the podium. Welcome. Any questions? Going once, going twice, hearing none.
So this will conclude the meeting. Management, as usual, will be here afterwards as we'll of our directors. If you have questions, comments, you wish to share with us. Let me thank you all for attending. And I'm very grateful to support during this past year, and I look around the room, I see a number of you who've been with us for quite a few years.
And so we're very grateful for you visiting again with us this year in your support. I hope you'll join us for refreshments. And with that, I'm now going to declare the meeting concluded.