Hancock Whitney

Hancock Whitney

Hancock Whitney traces its origins to 1899 in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, under the founding Hancock family. The bank survived the Great Depression, Hurricane Katrina, and a series of Gulf Coast consolidations, emerging as one of the largest banks headquartered in the Deep South. Its wealth management arm, Hancock Whitney Asset Management, serves as a de facto family office for numerous legacy Gulf Coast families — oil-and-gas founders, port operators, and timber landowners — alongside institutional clients across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. Investment strategies center on traditional asset classes: domestic large-cap equities, investment-grade municipal and corporate bonds, and real estate through the bank's own trust platform. Managed portfolios tilt toward dividend-paying stocks and tax-advantaged fixed income, reflecting the regional preference for yield and capital preservation over venture-style growth. Hancock Whitney also advises on mineral rights management, a niche born from the Mississippi and Louisiana oil patch. The bank's 2023 acquisition of a smaller Louisiana trust operation deepened its capacity to handle concentrated energy and real estate positions. As of mid-2025, Hancock Whitney reports approximately $17 billion in total bank assets, with the wealth and trust division managing an undisclosed portion. The firm operates from its main office in Gulfport, with additional wealth management offices in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Houston, and Mobile. In March 2024, the company appointed a new head of wealth management, signaling a push to broaden advisory services beyond its historical trust-and-custody base. Structurally, Hancock Whitney operates as a publicly traded bank holding company, which distinguishes its wealth management arm from a pure single-family office. The bank's fiduciary model anchors its investment committee to the conservative standards of the OCC, limiting the range of alternative assets it can offer but strengthening its appeal to families seeking a co-fiduciary with regulated balance-sheet backing.