An Atlanta Bank Grows To Big Bank Size
SunTrust is the largest ancilliary of SunTrust Banks, Inc. In June of 2008, this bank had nearly $2,000,000,000 in assets. The SunTrust Bank head offices are located in Atlanta, GA, where they have been since the Eighteen-Nineties, as SunTrust’s parent company began here. SunTrust Bank locations are all over the southern states. Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia are all states with branches. In this writing, we will offer more information and some brief history of SunTrust Bank.
In 1811, the Farmer’s Bank of Alexandria, Virginia was founded, and this was the earliest predecessor to the SunTrust Bank. The Farmer’s Bank is the direct corporate relative of the Trust Company of Georgia, which was founded in 1891. When this business was founded, it was called the Commercial Traveler’s Savings Banks. This bank was only known under this name for a total of two years, at which time it was renamed the Trust Company of Georgia. The SunTrust Bank Incorporated of our modern times was a result of a merger. In 1985, the Trust Company of Georgia and SunBanks, Incorporated of Florida became one to make what is now known as SunTrust Banks, Incorporated. The branches of this bank, however, did not switch over to the name of the parent company until 1995.
Coke and Suntrust have been cousins of sorts for years. The original financing for Coca-Cola was handleAfter the union in 1985, SunTrust Banks, Incorporated started to purchase other corporations and banking concerns. In 1986, SunTrust purchased Third National Corporation of Tenn.. In 1998, SunTrust purchased Crestar Financial of Virgina and in 2001 SunTrust attempted to acquire Wachovia, but they were unsuccessful. Instead, Wachovia merged with another institution, First Union. In 2004, SunTrust bought the National Commerce Financial Corporation, which was operating out of Memphis. They made this purchase for about seven billion dollars. Once this acquisition was made, it gave SunTrust branches in both North and South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Georgia. SunTrust has more recently bought GB&T Bancshares for just under $154 million. GB&T will now mainly be merged into the SunTrust Atlanta, Georgia banking region. SunTrust has been working diligently to strengthen its assets since its spawning in 1985. As of now, there are rumors going around that SunTrust may be acquired by a larger bank in the near future. There is no date that is set in stone when it will be known whether or not SunTrust will be taken over. And with the economy the bank holding companies have become very conservative in their acquisitions. d by SunTrust’s predecessor The Trust Company of Georgia. Right now the number one company secret in the world – the Coca-Cola Formula – resides in the SunTrust safe in Atlanta. SunTrust also puts its money where its mouth is – that is they own about 50 million shares of the Coke Company – another safe bet, recently the stock, even in this down market was selling in the high $40’s – a nice chunk of money.
SunTrust has also had a long relationship with the Coca-Cola Company. The relationship goes as far back as the year 1919, when the Trust Company of Georgia was the underwriter of the initial public offering. The original copy of the Coca-Cola recipe is stored in a SunTrust safety deposit box in Atlanta. SunTrust still has nearly fifty million shares of Coca-Cola. This is worth about two and a half billion dollars to the company. There are also two Coca-Cola executives that sit on the director’s board for SunTrust.