BB&T entered the Florida market in 2002 with the acquisition of First South Bank and its 19 banking offices around the state. This year, 2004, the company closed on the acquisition of Republic Bank and has added its 50-plus offices to the market. Florida has now expanded from one region to a total of three.
Branch Banking and Trust is a Fortune 200 company and the 11th largest bank in the U.S. with assets near $100 billion operating in 13 states
Though a large bank, BB&T operates like a community bank in its various markets with 36 regions currently. Each region has its own regional president and can respond to local market conditions for pricing and loan decisions.
“It gives us the financial strength of a major U.S. financial institution with the flexibility of a locally owned community bank,” said Vice President Brad King. “After a series of mergers and acquisitions over the last few years, BB&T will continue to grow but more likely through opening new branches in markets they’ve now entered rather than through further merger activity.”
BB&T was named by J.D. Powers as No. 1 in the nation among banks in home mortgage servicing customer satisfaction and also was ranked 29th overall in Money Magazine’s annual “Corporate America’s Best Employee Benefits” survey of Fortune 300 companies.
King added: “I just had my eighth anniversary with the bank and was named a vice president in the past year. I’ve led the state in mortgage production in seven out of the eight years, including last year with $80 million.
“We’ve got about a dozen mortgage loan officers in the northeast Florida market and will likely add more in 2005.
“The focus of the bank’s lending has been in new construction and development financing. We specialize in construction-permanent lending and lot financing as well as traditional purchase-money mortgages and refinancing.
“In addition, the bank lends non-traditional or ‘portfolio’ loan products in-house allowing us to be a one-stop shop for all loan types, not just the perfect ‘A’ paper-type loans that is common with many other banks.”