SunTrust Banks

SunTrust Banks, Inc.

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Type	Public
Traded as	NYSE: STI S&P 500 Component
Industry	Banking
Founded	1985 (1985)
Headquarters	SunTrust Plaza Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Number of locations	1,497 branches 2,243 ATMs
Area served	Southeastern United States
Key people	William H. Rogers, Jr. Chairman and CEO
Products	Financial Services
Revenue	US$8.2 billion (FY 2013)
Net income	US$1.34 billion (FY 2013)
Total assets	US$172.5 billion (FY 2013)
Total equity	US$21.4 billion (FY 2013)
Number of employees	26,281 (12/31/2013)
Slogan	Live Solid. Bank Solid. SunTrust.
Website	SunTrust.com

SunTrust locations in the United States.

SunTrust Banks, Inc., is an American bank holding company. The largest subsidiary is SunTrust Bank. It had US$175 billion in assets as of December 31, 2013. SunTrust Bank's most direct corporate parent was established in 1891 in Atlanta, where its headquarters remain.

SunTrust operates 1,497 bank branches and 2,243 ATMs across Southern states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

History and acquisitions

On 21 September 1891, SunTrust's most direct corporate ancestor, the Trust Company of Georgia, was founded as the Commercial Travelers' Savings Bank. The founders were John M. Green, Joel Hurt, H. L. Atwater, W. A. Hansell, T. J. Hightower, J. G. Oglesby, J. D. Turner, John B. Daniel, Joseph Hirsch, Leon Lieberman, Louis Wellhouse, A. J. McBride, D. O. Dougherty, W. A. Gregg, W. W. Draper, A. C. Hook, W. T. Ashford, George W. Brooke, C. I. Branan and C. D. Montgomery.

In November 1893, it restructured as a trust company 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 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. SunTrust purchased Crestar Financial Corporation of Richmond, Virginia in 1998 expanding the company’s footprint into Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia. Crestar's (and SunTrust's) earliest predecessor, Farmers Bank of Alexandria, was founded in 1811.

In 1988, Suntrust is added to the S&P 500 Stock Price Index.

In 2001, SunTrust purchased the institutional businesses of the Robinson-Humphrey Company, LLC. creating SunTrust Robinson-Humphrey.

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 Alabama, the Carolinas and West Virginia for the first time, and substantially increased its footprint in the other states.

In 2013, the bank led a bank group that included Fifth Third Bank and Florida Community Bank that helped finance the acquirement of BEL USA, the parent company that owns DiscountMugs, by Comvest Partners, a private equity firm.

In 2014, SunTrust announced it would launch a medical specialty group to work with independent medical practices.

On Sept. 16, 2014, the Atlanta Braves announced the name of their new Cobb County stadium: SunTrust Park. SunTrust Park, which is expected to be unveiled in time for the first pitch of the 2017 season, will serve as the new home of the Atlanta Braves. The $1.1 billion construction project in Cobb County will include restaurants, shops, offices, a hotel and residential spaces directly connected to the park. The Braves organization is making history by building out the development at the same time the stadium is being constructed.

Executives

On April 21, 2011, William H. Rogers, Jr. began a transition into the CEO role previously held by Jim Wells, who retired December 31, 2011. Formerly SunTrust's COO, Rogers assumed the title of CEO on June 1, 2011. Rogers had been named President in 2008.

Relationship 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 GAAP 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.

Products

The bank's primary businesses include deposit, credit, trust and investment services. Through its various subsidiaries, the company provides mortgage banking, asset management, securities brokerage, and capital market services.

2014 National Mortgage Settlement

In 2014, the Federal government together with state attorneys general in 49 states and the District of Columbia reached a settlement requiring SunTrust Mortgage, Inc., to provide $500 million in various forms of relief to mortgage borrowers. The United States District Court for the District of Columbia entered the Consent Order on September 30, 2014. The consent order addressed SunTrust's alleged misconduct regarding its mortgage servicing and foreclosure practices. SunTrust was also required to create a 40 million dollar fund for the approximately 45,000 SunTrust borrowers who were foreclosed upon between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2013. In addition, SunTrust was required to adhere to significant new homeowner protections. The consent order required that SunTrust follow the servicing standards set up by the 2012 National Mortgage Settlement (NMS) with the five largest banks.

Controversies

In September 2015 SunTrust laid off one hundred IT professionals with a controversial severance agreement clause by SunTrust that required laid-off employees to be available to help without pay for a period of two years. On October, 23rd Suntrust reversed course and removed the clause ""to make myself reasonably available to SunTrust regarding matters in which I have been involved in the course of my employment with SunTrust and/or about which I have knowledge as a result of my employment with SunTrust.""

Buildings and branches

Located at 200 South Orange Avenue, The SunTrust Center is the tallest building in downtown Orlando, Florida. The 35 story, 650,000 sq ft (60,000 m²) building was constructed in 1988 at a cost of approximately $100 million. It is constructed of reinforced concrete and granite with marble finishes and features 17 elevators.

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  SunTrust Plaza in Atlanta, Georgia

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  Suntrust Bank in Gaithersburg, Maryland

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  SunTrust Building in Washington, D.C.

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  SunTrust Tower in Jacksonville, Florida

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  SunTrust Center in Orlando, Florida

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  SunTrust building in Tampa, Florida

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  SunTrust branch in Durham, North Carolina

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  SunTrust Bank in Hendersonville, Tennessee

External links

• SunTrust Banks, Inc. - official site
• Yahoo! - SunTrust Banks, Inc. Company Profile