SunTrust Banks
Encyclopedia
SunTrust Banks, Inc., is an American
bank holding company. The largest subsidiary is SunTrust Bank. It had US$172.7 billion in assets as of September 30, 2009. SunTrust Bank's most direct corporate parent was established in 1891 in Atlanta, where its headquarters remain.
SunTrust operates approximately 1,700 bank branches across Southern states, including Alabama
, Arkansas
, Florida
, Georgia
, Maryland
, Mississippi
, North Carolina
, South Carolina
, Tennessee
, Virginia
, West Virginia
, and Washington, D.C.
banking, credit cards, mutual funds, insurance
, equipment leasing, asset management, and securities
underwriting
and dealing.
on June 30, 2005. SunTrust will retain the option to purchase card assets from InfiCorp if it desires to add to its own loan portfolio. InfiCorp Holdings is a subsidiary of First National of Nebraska
.
and renamed itself Trust Company of Georgia. The current SunTrust Banks, Inc., was the result of a merger between the Trust Company of Georgia and SunBanks, Inc., of Orlando, Florida
(founded in 1934 as First National Bank of Orlando) in 1985. The merged company operated as Trust Company Bank in Georgia and Sun Bank in Florida until 1995, when all banks took the SunTrust name.
In 2007, the bank was one of the first major U.S. institutions to experience a stock value decline, bottoming out at $9.06/share in February 2009 from a high of $90.61/share on May 22, 2007. They took part in the federal government's Troubled Asset Relief Program and ultimately were investigated for executive compensation.
(successor of Farmers Bank) in 1998. In 2001, SunTrust launched a hostile takeover bid for Wachovia Corporation, after Wachovia
announced its intention to merge with First Union Corporation
. This attempt was unsuccessful. It did, however, purchase the retail banking
operations of Huntington Bancshares
in Florida
in 2002; SunTrust and Huntington continue to compete in the Charleston, West Virginia
market today.
The company bought Memphis
-based National Commerce Financial Corporation (NCF) for $7 billion in 2004. The bank operated as National Bank of Commerce in South Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, Virginia and West Virginia and as Central Carolina Bank and Trust
in North Carolina. This acquisition allowed SunTrust to enter North Carolina and West Virginia for the first time, and substantially increased its footprint in the other states.
On November 2, 2007, SunTrust Bank announced that it will acquire GB&T Bancshares for $154 million. Under the agreement, GB&T shareholders would receive 0.1562 shares of SunTrust stock for each share of GB&T stock held. SunTrust doesn't anticipate the transaction, expected to close in the second quarter of 2008, to affect 2008 earnings. If completed, the merger would integrate the GB&T franchise primarily into SunTrust's Atlanta banking region, where it operates 212 branches.
cost of $110,000, is today worth approximately $2 billion and pays $59 million a year in dividends. In addition, the original copy of the formula for Coca-Cola is stored in a safe deposit box
of a SunTrust location in Atlanta. Ernest Woodruff
, president of the Trust Company from 1904 to 1922, was the father of Robert W. Woodruff
, Coca-Cola's president from 1923 to 1954 and board member until 1984. As of 2007, two Coca-Cola executives sit on SunTrust's board of directors
and a former SunTrust CEO sits on Coca-Cola's board.
On May 15, 2007, SunTrust announced that it had sold 4.5 million shares, or 9%, of its 48.2 million shares of Coca-Cola. On July 22, 2008, SunTrust announced they were selling their remaining 43.6 million shares in order to raise more capital.
. The 35 story, 650000 sq ft (60,387 m²) building was built in 1988 at a cost of approximately $100 million. It is constructed of reinforced concrete and granite with marble finishes and features 17 elevators.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
bank holding company. The largest subsidiary is SunTrust Bank. It had US$172.7 billion in assets as of September 30, 2009. SunTrust Bank's most direct corporate parent was established in 1891 in Atlanta, where its headquarters remain.
SunTrust operates approximately 1,700 bank branches across Southern states, including Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
, Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
, and Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
Products
The bank's offerings include retail and commercial banking, as well as trust services, mortgageMortgage loan
A mortgage loan is a loan secured by real property through the use of a mortgage note which evidences the existence of the loan and the encumbrance of that realty through the granting of a mortgage which secures the loan...
banking, credit cards, mutual funds, insurance
Insurance
In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...
, equipment leasing, asset management, and securities
Security (finance)
A security is generally a fungible, negotiable financial instrument representing financial value. Securities are broadly categorized into:* debt securities ,* equity securities, e.g., common stocks; and,...
underwriting
Underwriting
Underwriting refers to the process that a large financial service provider uses to assess the eligibility of a customer to receive their products . The name derives from the Lloyd's of London insurance market...
and dealing.
Credit cards
On December 12, 2006, it was announced that SunTrust signed an agreement with InfiCorp Holdings of Atlanta to manage SunTrust's consumer credit card portfolio. The portfolio had been managed under an agreement with MBNA Corporation since 1999, but MBNA was acquired by SunTrust's competitor Bank of AmericaBank of America
Bank of America Corporation, an American multinational banking and financial services corporation, is the second largest bank holding company in the United States by assets, and the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by market capitalization. The bank is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina...
on June 30, 2005. SunTrust will retain the option to purchase card assets from InfiCorp if it desires to add to its own loan portfolio. InfiCorp Holdings is a subsidiary of First National of Nebraska
First National of Nebraska
First National of Nebraska is a privately held, interstate bank holding company based in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. The largest banking subsidiaries are First National Bank of Omaha, First National Bank Colorado, First National Bank Kansas and First National Bank South Dakota. First National of...
.
History
The earliest predecessor institution, Farmers Bank of Alexandria, Virginia, was founded in 1811. The most direct corporate ancestor, the Trust Company of Georgia, was founded in 1891 as the Commercial Travelers' Savings Bank. Two years later, it restructured as a trust companyTrust company
A trust company is a corporation, especially a commercial bank, organized to perform the fiduciary of trusts and agencies. It is normally owned by one of three types of structures: an independent partnership, a bank, or a law firm, each of which specializes in being a trustee of various kinds of...
and renamed itself Trust Company of Georgia. The current SunTrust Banks, Inc., was the result of a merger between the Trust Company of Georgia and SunBanks, Inc., of Orlando, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
(founded in 1934 as First National Bank of Orlando) in 1985. The merged company operated as Trust Company Bank in Georgia and Sun Bank in Florida until 1995, when all banks took the SunTrust name.
In 2007, the bank was one of the first major U.S. institutions to experience a stock value decline, bottoming out at $9.06/share in February 2009 from a high of $90.61/share on May 22, 2007. They took part in the federal government's Troubled Asset Relief Program and ultimately were investigated for executive compensation.
Acquisitions
In 1986, shortly after the Trust Company–SunBanks merger, SunTrust purchased Third National Corporation of Nashville, though it continued to use the Third National name in Tennessee until 1995. It purchased Crestar Financial Corporation of Richmond, VirginiaRichmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
(successor of Farmers Bank) in 1998. In 2001, SunTrust launched a hostile takeover bid for Wachovia Corporation, after Wachovia
Wachovia
Wachovia was a diversified financial services company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Before its acquisition by Wells Fargo in 2008, Wachovia was the fourth-largest bank holding company in the United States based on total assets...
announced its intention to merge with First Union Corporation
First Union Corporation
First Union Corporation was a banking company providing commercial and retail banking services in eleven states in the eastern U.S. First Union also provided various other financial services, including mortgage banking, credit card, investment banking , investment advisory, home equity lending,...
. This attempt was unsuccessful. It did, however, purchase the retail banking
Retail banking
Retail banking is banking in which banking institutions execute transactions directly with consumers, rather than corporations or other banks. Services offered include: savings and transactional accounts, mortgages, personal loans, debit cards, credit cards, and so forth.-Types of...
operations of Huntington Bancshares
Huntington Bancshares
Huntington Bancshares, Inc., is a US$53 billion Midwestern bank holding company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. It is the 24th largest American bank. As of October 22, 2008, it was listed on the S&P 500...
in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
in 2002; SunTrust and Huntington continue to compete in the Charleston, West Virginia
Charleston, West Virginia
Charleston is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is located at the confluence of the Elk and Kanawha Rivers in Kanawha County. As of the 2010 census, it has a population of 51,400, and its metropolitan area 304,214. It is the county seat of Kanawha County.Early...
market today.
The company bought Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
-based National Commerce Financial Corporation (NCF) for $7 billion in 2004. The bank operated as National Bank of Commerce in South Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, Virginia and West Virginia and as Central Carolina Bank and Trust
Central Carolina Bank and Trust
Central Carolina Bank and Trust was a bank headquartered in Durham, North Carolina. It began in 1961 with the merger of Durham Bank & Trust and University National Bank of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. CCB merged with SunTrust Banks of Atlanta, Georgia in 2005...
in North Carolina. This acquisition allowed SunTrust to enter North Carolina and West Virginia for the first time, and substantially increased its footprint in the other states.
On November 2, 2007, SunTrust Bank announced that it will acquire GB&T Bancshares for $154 million. Under the agreement, GB&T shareholders would receive 0.1562 shares of SunTrust stock for each share of GB&T stock held. SunTrust doesn't anticipate the transaction, expected to close in the second quarter of 2008, to affect 2008 earnings. If completed, the merger would integrate the GB&T franchise primarily into SunTrust's Atlanta banking region, where it operates 212 branches.
Historical data
SunTrust Banks was the eighth largest bank at the end of 2008 as an individual bank. (Not including subsidiaries)Executives
On April 21, 2011, William H. Rogers, Jr. began a transition into the CEO role held by Jim Wells, who will fully retire December 31. Formerly Suntrust's COO, Rogers assumed the title of CEO on June 1, 2011. Rogers had been named President in 2008Relationship with Coca-Cola
SunTrust has a long-standing relationship with The Coca-Cola Company. The Trust Company of Georgia helped underwrite the initial public offering of The Coca-Cola Company in 1919. As a result, the bank received some of Coke's publicly traded stock, and SunTrust retains 48.3 million shares (3.58%) of Coke as of 2006. This stake, which has a GAAPGaap
In demonology, Gaap is a mighty Prince and Great President of Hell, commanding sixty-six legions of demons. He is, according to The Lesser Key of Solomon, the king and prince of the southern region of Hell and Earth, and according to the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum the king of the western region and...
cost of $110,000, is today worth approximately $2 billion and pays $59 million a year in dividends. In addition, the original copy of the formula for Coca-Cola is stored in a safe deposit box
Safe deposit box
A safe deposit box or wrongly referred to as a safety deposit box is an individually-secured container, usually held within a larger safe or bank vault. Safe deposit boxes are generally located in banks, post offices or other institutions...
of a SunTrust location in Atlanta. Ernest Woodruff
Ernest Woodruff
Ernest Woodruff was an important businessman in the U.S. city of Atlanta.-Biography:Woodruff was born in Columbus, Georgia, USA...
, president of the Trust Company from 1904 to 1922, was the father of Robert W. Woodruff
Robert W. Woodruff
Robert Winship Woodruff was the president of The Coca-Cola Company from 1923 until 1954. With his enormous Coke fortune, he was also a major philanthropist, and many educational and cultural landmarks in the U.S...
, Coca-Cola's president from 1923 to 1954 and board member until 1984. As of 2007, two Coca-Cola executives sit on SunTrust's board of directors
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
and a former SunTrust CEO sits on Coca-Cola's board.
On May 15, 2007, SunTrust announced that it had sold 4.5 million shares, or 9%, of its 48.2 million shares of Coca-Cola. On July 22, 2008, SunTrust announced they were selling their remaining 43.6 million shares in order to raise more capital.
SunTrust Center
Located at 200 South Orange Avenue, The SunTrust Center is the tallest building in downtown Orlando, FloridaOrlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
. The 35 story, 650000 sq ft (60,387 m²) building was built in 1988 at a cost of approximately $100 million. It is constructed of reinforced concrete and granite with marble finishes and features 17 elevators.