The BB&T Corporation (Branch Banking & Trust) is one of the largest financial services holding companies in the U.S. with $184.7 billion in assets and market capitalization of $28.9 billion, as of March 31, 2014. Based in Winston-Salem, N.C., the company operates 1,824 financial centers in 12 states (including North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Indiana, Texas, with Ohio, New Jersey and Pennsylvania being added after pending transactions) and Washington, D.C., and offers a full range of consumer and commercial banking, securities brokerage, asset management, mortgage, and insurance products and services. A Fortune 500 company, BB&T is consistently recognized for outstanding client satisfaction by J.D. Power and Associates, the U.S. Small Business Administration, Greenwich Associates and others.
History
BB&T dates back to 1872, when Alpheus Branch and Thomas Jefferson Hadley founded the "Branch and Hadley" merchant bank in their small hometown of Wilson, North Carolina. After many transactions, mostly with local farmers, Branch bought out Hadley's shares in 1887 and renamed the company to "Branch and Company, Bankers." Two years later, Branch, his father-in-law Gen. Joshua Barnes, Hadley, and three other men, secured a charter from the North Carolina General Assembly to operate the "Wilson Banking and Trust Company." After numerous additional name changes, the company finally settled on the name "Branch Banking and Trust Company". Branch remained an active member in the company until his death in 1893.
BB&T sold Liberty Bonds during World War I and grew to have more than $4 million in assets by 1923. An insurance division was added in 1922, followed by a mortgage division in 1923. As banks across the nation failed as a result of the 1929 Stock Market Crash, BB&T survived; it was the only one to do so in the town of Wilson.
World War II revived BB&T. BB&T's prosperity continued into the 1960s and 1970s, as mergers and acquisitions grew the company to $343 million in assets with new branches in 35 cities. By 1994, BB&T had become North Carolina's largest bank with more than $10.3 billion in assets and 263 offices in 138 cities in the Carolinas, though it has since slipped to second behind Bank of America.
In 1995, BB&T and Southern National Bank, another bank with roots in the eastern part of the state, completed a "merger of equals." In an unusual arrangement, the holding company retained the Southern National name for a few years, but all of its banks took the BB&T name. This gave the new BB&T 437 branches in 220 cities in the Carolinas and Virginia. The bank continued to expand nationwide through the 1990s, purchasing Fidelity Financial Bankshares, First Financial of Petersburg, Maryland Federal Bancorp and Franklin Bancorporation in the Virginia/Maryland area. In 1999, BB&T acquired MainStreet Financial Corp. of Martinsville, Va., and Mason-Dixon Bancshares of Westminster, Md., and further expanded into Georgia and West Virginia after purchasing First Liberty of Macon, Ga., and Matewan Bancshares. The latter deal made BB&T the largest bank in West Virginia, a position it has held on to since.
From 2000 to 2005, BB&T acquired numerous smaller banks, expanding into Tennessee, Kentucky, and even Florida. By Dec. 31, 2005, BB&T Corporation had secured $109.2 billion in assets; operated more than 1,500 banking offices in 11 states and the District of Columbia; and had more than 28,000 employees.
In early 2007 BB&T acquired Coastal Federal Bank which is primarily located in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It has been one of the Carolinas' fastest growing banks. After BB&T's announcement of an opportunity for a "merger of equals" it was speculated that it would be a merger with either Regions Financial of Birmingham or Fifth Third of Cincinnati.
In late 2008 the bank accepted $3.1 billion in bailout money through the sale of its preferred shares to the U.S. Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program. The bank said in June 2009 that it had received approval to repurchase the shares. Also in June 2009, its chairman, John A. Allison IV delivered a keynote address to a meeting of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, where he claimed to show how government regulation caused the 2007-2009 financial collapse.
On August 14, 2009, it was announced that the deposits and loan accounts of the Colonial Bank were being transferred to BB&T as part of Colonial Bank's receivership by the FDIC. This acquisition added more than 340 branches in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Nevada and Texas along with approximately $22 billion in assets. This moved BB&T Corporation to the 10th largest commercial bank in the United States based on assets. BB&T quickly flipped the Nevada branch to U.S. Bancorp (dropping it to 10th overall), but hung on to its Texas branches, despite the Texas branches being outside of its historical footprint. As of November 1, 2011, In acquiring BankAtlantic, BB&T acquired approximately $2.1 billion in loans and assume approximately $3.3 billion in deposits.
On December 18, 2013, BB&T announced the purchase of 21 Citigroup branches in Texas for $36 million, adding $1.2 billion in deposits. After starting with 19 former Colonial branches and adding 41 more locations, BB&T increased its presence in the state to 81 branches with $2.8 billion in deposits, increasing its rank from 38th to 20th.
In 2014, BB&T announced it was buying 41 more Citigroup branches, which after completion of the deal in first quarter 2015, would give the bank 123 branches and $5.3 billion in deposits.
In 2014, BB&T announced the acquisition of Bank of Kentucky, for $363 million, which has $1.9 billion in assets, gives BB&T a presence in the Northern Kentucky-Cincinnati market, and its first branches in the Northern United States. BB&T later announced it would purchase Susquehanna Bank.
On April 1, 2015, BB&T said it was selling American Coastal Insurance Co. to management of AMRisc LP. BB&T Insurance Holdings also said it would own more of AMRisc.
On April 2, BB&T subsidiary CRC Insurance Services Inc. said it would buy "strategic assets" of Napco LLC, a broker of catastrophic commercial insurance started in 1996.
Donations
- The company issued a $2 million grant to Wake Forest University to establish the BB&T Center for the Study of Capitalism in 2008.
- The company has donated over $1 million to Appalachian State University to establish a leadership center that specializes in researching capitalism and free market economies
- The company donated $350,000 to fund the teaching of "The Moral Foundations of Capitalism" at the Loyola College in Maryland.
- The company donated $1.5 million to the University of Georgia to "expand teaching and research into the foundations of capitalism and free market economies".
- The company donated $1 million to the University of Central Florida to create the BB&T Program for Business Ethics and fund the teaching of "The Moral Foundations of Capitalism".
- The company donated $1.75 million to West Virginia University's College of Business and Economics.The funds will establish a BB&T Chair in Free Market Thought and enhance the school's free market research and teaching programs.
- In May 2008, National Public Radio reported that the BB&T Charitable Foundation had given 25 U.S. colleges and universities "several million dollars" to fund programs promoting Ayn Rand's work and economic philosophy.
- In 2012, BB&T donated approximately $500,000 to Veterans Helping Veterans Heal in Winston-Salem, N.C.
References
External links
- Welcome to BB&T - Branch Banking & Trust Company
- In July 2007 BB&T Insurance Services, Inc. was ranked eighth in Business Insurance's world's largest brokers list.
- In July 2010 BB&T Insurance Services, Inc. was ranked sixth in Business Insurance's world's largest brokers list.
- Yahoo! - BB&T Corporation Company Profile
- Proview Global Administration Inc. website
- Proview Global Administration Inc. page
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