BB&T history

Trust Company of Georgia is the bank’s most direct corporate parent and it was established on September 21, 1891, as the Commercial Travelers’ Savings Bank of Atlanta.

Another Richmond investment bank, the venerable Scott & Stringfellow (established 1893), was acquired later.

Southern National, the fifth largest bank in North Carolina before the merger (BB&T was number four), had been formed in 1897 in Lumberton.

In 1900, Branch and Company, Bankers, was sold to Branch Banking and Company, holder of the state charter.

20, 1902, the bank opened a savings department, paying four percent interest compounded quarterly.

The company’s origins date back to its earliest predecessor, which was founded in 1911 as The People’s National Bank in Orlando, Florida.

The new century saw expanding opportunities for BB&T. In 1913, the charter was amended to change the name to Branch Banking and Trust Company.

The bank began offering insurance and mortgages in the early 1920s.

1921 BB&T begins opening branch offices.

1923 BB&T's assets exceed $4 million.

With the stock market crash of 1929, banks that had invested heavily in stocks began to fail.

BB&T had an office in Raleigh by 1959.

Allison had started working for the bank in 1971 while studying for an M.B.A. Forbes dubbed Allison the "Philosopher King" for his penchant for citing thinkers from the ancient Greeks to Ayn Rand.

Slow Growth Until 1981

L. Vincent Lowe, Jr., became president and CEO in 1982 upon the death of Thorne Gregory.

It was formed in 1985 when the Trust Company of Georgia merged with SunBanks.

1987 BB&T enters South Carolina by merging with Greenville's Community Bancorporation Inc.

1989 BB&T's assets are about $5 billion.

Assets reached $10.5 billion by 1994, with 263 offices in 138 cities in North and South Carolina.

With its increased heft, BB&T struck a “merger of equals” with Lumberton-based Southern National Bank that resulted in a new headquarters in Winston-Salem in 1995.

Washington, D.C.'s Franklin Bancorporation Inc. was added in December 1997.

BB&T set up its own venture capital firm in March 1998.

BB&T had a very busy year in 1999, as it expanded on all fronts.

According to Forbes, it is considered one of the top 2000 largest public companies in the world.

Matching CRC with BB&T's existing retail agencies made sense for both parties, observed American Banker. It picked up Cooney Rikard & Curtin (later renamed CRC Insurance Services Inc.), a Birmingham, Alabama-based insurance wholesaler, in January 2002 for stock worth $86 million.

BB&T announced the purchase of a large Birmingham insurance agency, McGriff, Seibels & Williams, in November 2003.

BB&T completed the acquisition of Republic Bancshares Inc. of St Petersburg, FL, in April 2004.

At the end of 2005, assets were up to $109 billion and the bank had 1,400 branches in 11 states and the District of Columbia.

In 2006, BB&T completed the acquisitions of Main Street Banks Inc. of Atlanta, GA, and First Citizens Bancorp of Cleveland, TN.

BB&T completed the acquisition of Coastal Financial Corporation of Myrtle Beach, SC, in 2007.

BB&T announced it would purchase the personal and business deposits of Haven Trust Bank of Atlanta in an FDIC-assisted deal in December 2008.

In August 2009, BB&T acquired the banking operations of Colonial Bank of Montgomery, AL, in an FDIC-assisted deal.