SunTrust and its parent SunTrust Bank, Inc. are one of the largest southern United States Banks with assets over 2 billion dollars. The Bank’s headquarters are located in Georgia, where they have been since the 1890’s, as its parent company began here. You can find easily locations all over the southern states ” Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia are all home to branches. I hope to give you a further insight to this bank and its services that help business and people with their banking needs.

In the early 1800’s, the Farmer’s Bank of Alexandria, Virginia was chartered, and this was the earliest form of that would become the Bank. The Farmer’s Bank was the direct corporate relative of the Trust Company of Georgia. When this financial institution was founded, it was called the Commercial Traveler’s Savings Bank, a name it only held for two years. After this time it was renamed the Trust Company of Georgia, to be more in-line with the increased stature and additional services it was able to offer its clients. The Bank as it is today is a result of a merger. In 1985, the Trust Company of Georgia and SunBanks, from Florida became one, thus making what is now known as SunTrust Banks, Inc. The branches of this bank, other than the original Florida SunBanks, did not switch over to the name of the parent company until late in the 1990’s.

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 banks and businesses. In 1986, SunTrust acquired Third National Corporation of Tennessee. In 1998, SunTrust acquired Crestar Financial of Virgina and in 2001 SunTrust attempted to buy Wachovia, but they were unsuccessful. Instead, Wachovia merged with another bank, First Union. In 2004, SunTrust bought the National Commerce Financial Corporation, which was operating out of Memphis. They made this purchase for about $7 billion. Once this purchase 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 $154,000,000. 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 whisperings going around that SunTrust may be gobbled up 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 economic situation 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.

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