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Banks in the Southeast are continuing to shrink their loan portfolios as they grapple with past miscues.
February 19 -
The Columbus, Ga., company reported higher quarterly earnings, helped by a $800 million deferred tax asset, and quieted M&A talk for now.
January 22 -
Synovus, a Georgia-based company, and CEO Kessel Stelling should be able to devote more resources to loan growth, industry observers say.
December 13
Kessel Stelling has a message for all the doubters: my bank's still here.
In fact, the chairman and chief executive of Synovus Financial (SNV) argues, it's new and improved.
"Our company is probably not the same company that you knew three years ago," he said in touting the $26.4 billion-asset Synovus at an investor conference in Boston hosted by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.
The Columbus, Ga., company was hobbled by bad construction loans, losing
Stelling pointed to Synovus' consolidation of 30 banking charters, improved credit profile and six consecutive quarterly profits as proof of a transformation.
"So after three years of torturous headlines in many cases, and rumors and doubters and people who suggested to our customers and our team members that they go elsewhere, we come out of this crisis now with this franchise where we occupy top five market share in markets that represent about 80% of our core banking franchise," Stelling said Thursday at the conference.
However, Stelling had to cut the celebration short. The first question asked during the presentation related to Synovus' profitability targets for the long term.
"Well, so you asked me that question last night, and I wouldn't answer," Stelling joked in response to the question.
Stelling said that the company is continuing to focus on improving credit quality and will benefit from declining credit costs and shifting more resources to activities that produce revenue.
Synovus also is implementing a plan that should save $30 million and has been
Still Synovus faces some challenges, including the need to repay about $968 million in funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Stelling reiterated at the conference that he anticipated exiting Tarp no sooner than the second quarter and no later than the fourth quarter of this year.
The bank operates throughout the Southeast,
Synovus could eventually become a consolidator of banks in the region, he said. But for now it has to finish working through some of its remaining problems and concentrate on organic growth, Stelling said.
"But a natural extension of who we are and what we do is that we have historically been a very good acquirer of companies," he said. "That's how we built our bank. I think those opportunities — unfortunately for our industry — those opportunities are going to be there for several years."
