Guaranty Bank & Trust history

By 1929 and the onset of the Great Depression, Deposit Guaranty had paid off its startup debts, opened a full-time trust department, and issued its first stock dividend.

But stockholder worries forced Deposit Guaranty to cancel its annual meeting in 1930, and as the nation's financial climate worsened management reluctantly imposed salary cuts (ten percent for employees making more than $100 a month and a full 15 percent for the bank's officers).

Deposit Guaranty itself meanwhile seemed almost impervious to the forces claiming hundreds of other United States banks, including Mississippi's largest thrift, Merchants Bank: Deposit Guaranty had close to 4,800 depositors by 1933 and deposits of almost half a million dollars.

At the gloomy 1933 shareholders' meeting Major Donald entreated his employees to trust in "counsel, courage, and common sense" to see them through to the inevitable economic turnaround. It then picked up where it had left off before the Canal Bank crisis: doubling its assets to $7.3 million in 1934 and opening a new personal loan department to offer "Banking Credit for Everybody" in the form of $50 to $500 loans.

When Major Donald died in early 1941, William M. Mounger, an associate officer and director of the bank, was named Deposit Guaranty's second president.

With America now in the war, the bank guaranteed the jobs of employees leaving for military service, and as assets spiraled past $50 million in 1944 Deposit Guaranty began preparations for financing the local construction projects expected to accompany the postwar boom in consumer demand.

In Jackson and the nation at large that boom lasted longer than anyone had anticipated, and by 1948 Deposit Guaranty had made its first acquisition, purchasing the Bank of Clinton, Mississippi, amending the bank's charter to allow the new addition to become a full-fledged branch of Deposit Guaranty.

Management's early decision to embrace computer technology was vindicated in late 1967 when its new automated Operations Center began processing the bank's financial transactions.

In October 1968, the bank's board voted to establish a bank holding company, to be named Deposit Guaranty Corporation, that would exchange its stock for Deposit Guaranty's on a share-by-share basis.

J. H. Hines replaced the retiring Russ Johnson as chairman of the board and CEO in 1974 and soon began implementing a new corporate and management structure to reflect the new realities of the United States banking industry.

By the end of 1988, Deposit Guaranty's intrastate strategy of opening branches in every major market in the state was virtually complete.

When interstate banking finally arrived in Mississippi in July 1990, Deposit Guaranty had already lined up its first acquisition in the promising "ArkLaTex" region to the west, and the $1 billion Commercial National Bank (CNB) of Shreveport, Louisiana, was added to Deposit Guaranty's stable.

The Bank commenced operations in February 1991, and has since then grown to become one of the most respected and service focused banks in Nigeria.

A major rebranding exercise followed in June 2005, which saw the Bank emerge with improved service offerings, an aggressive expansion strategy and its vibrant orange identity.

In May 2011, the Bank successfully launched a US$500 million bond - the first non-sovereign benchmark bond offering from sub-Saharan Africa (outside South Africa), to the international community.