US Banks

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BB&T Quick Stats

Founded – 1872
Headquarters – Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Key people – Kelly King (CEO), John Allison (Chairman)
Industry – Finance, Investments, and Insurance
Products – Commercial banking, Investment banking
Revenue – US$ 10.67 billion (2008)
Net income – US$ 1.734 billion (2008)
Total assets – US$ 165.3 billion (as of 09/30/2009)
Employees – 30,200
Website – www.bbt.com

Brief History

BB and T‘s beginnings date 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”.

After numerous additional name changes, the company finally settled on the name “Branch Banking and Company”. 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 and its prosperity continued into the 1960s, as mergers and acquisitions grew to company to $343 million in assets with new branches in 35 cities. By 1994, BB&T had become North Carolina’s largest bank with $10.5 billion in assets and 263 offices in 138 cities in the Carolinas.

From 2000 to 2005, BB&T acquired numerous smaller banks, expanding into Tennessee, Kentucky, and even Florida. As of Dec. 31, 2005, BB&T Corporation had $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 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

On 15 August 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 over 340 branches in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Nevada and Texas along with approximately $26 billion in assets. This moved BB&T Corporation to the 8th largest commercial bank in the United States based on deposits.