Truist Financial

In 1872, Alpheus Branch and Thomas Jefferson Hadley founded the Branch and Hadley merchant bank in their hometown of Wilson, North Carolina. After many transactions, mostly with local farmers, Branch bought out Hadley's shares in 1887 and renamed the company Branch and Company, Bankers. Two years later, Branch, his father-in-law Gen. Joshua Barnes, Hadley, and three other men secured a charter from the North Carolina General Assembly to operate the Wilson Banking and Trust Company. After many more name changes, the company finally settled on the name Branch Banking and Trust Company. Branch remained an active member of the company until his death in 1893. The 1903 Branch Banking and Trust Company Building at Wilson was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.[8]

BB&T sold Liberty Bonds during World War I and grew to have more than $4 million in assets by 1923. BB&T Insurance Services was added in 1922 and a mortgage division was added in 1923. Even though banks across the United States 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.[9]

In 1995, the bank merged with Southern National Bank, another bank with roots in the eastern part of the state. This gave BB&T 437 branches in 220 cities in the Carolinas and Virginia. The bank name became BB&T, though at first, the holding company was Southern National Corp. With $19 billion in assets, BB&T had the most North Carolina deposits and branches of any bank. Southern National head Glenn Orr and new BB&T chairman John Allison said the merger would likely prevent out-of-state banks from taking over. Orr retired once the merger was complete.[10] The headquarters became BB&T Financial Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.[11]

In 1997, Southern National Corp. took over United Carolina Bank, another eastern North Carolina-based bank, in a $985 million deal announced in November 1996. UCB had $4.5 billion in assets. 400 employees worked in Whiteville but despite losing the headquarters, the town would eventually have 500 BB&T employees working at a 250-employee call center and other operations.[12][13][14] Starting September 22, 1997, 91 UCB branches began the process of changing to BB&T, and 67 other branches of the two banks closed starting in October because they were close to other BB&T locations.[15][16]

On May 19, 1997, Southern National Corp. changed its name to BB&T Corp. and its stock symbol SN to BBT.[17]

The bank continued to expand nationwide through the 1990s, purchasing Fidelity Financial Bankshares,[18] First Financial of Petersburg, Md., Maryland Federal Bancorp,[19] and Franklin Bancorporation.[20] In 1998, BB&T acquired MainStreet Financial of Martinsville, Va.,[21][22] and Mason-Dixon Bancshares of Westminster, Md.,[23] and further expanded into Georgia and West Virginia after purchasing First Liberty of Macon, Ga.,[24] and Matewan Bancshares.[25]

In 2000, BB&T purchased One Valley Bancorp, which was itself formed from a combination of community banks throughout West Virginia. This move gave BB&T the largest bank presence in West Virginia. In 2002, BB&T completed its acquisition of MidAmerica Bancorp of Louisville, Ky. (Bank of Louisville) and AREA Bancshares Corporation of Owensboro, Ky.[26][27][28] In 2003, BB&T completed its acquisition of First Virginia Banks of Falls Church, Va. In 2005, the bank acquired Main Street Banks of metro Atlanta for $622 million.[29] In 2006, the bank acquired Coastal Federal Bank, based in Myrtle Beach.[30]

In February 2008, the company acquired Burkey Risk Services.[31] In April 2008, the company acquired UnionBanc Insurance Services.[32] In late 2008, the bank accepted $3.1 billion in bailout money through the sale of preferred shares to the U.S. Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program. In June 2009, the bank repurchased the shares.[33] Also in June 2009, its chairman, John A. Allison IV delivered a keynote address to a meeting of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, where he claimed to show how government regulation caused the financial crisis of 2007–2008.[34] In July 2008, the company acquired Puckett, Scheetz & Hogan.[35] In December 2008, the company acquired J. Rolfe Davis.[36] On August 14, 2009, the bank acquired Colonial Bank after its seizure by the FDIC. This acquisition added more than 340 branches in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, and Texas, along with approximately $22 billion in assets.[37][38] BB&T sold the Nevada branch to U.S. Bancorp in January 2010.[39] In November 2009, the company acquired Oswald Trippe.[40]

In September 2011, the company acquired Liberty Benefit Insurance Services, an agency operating in California.[41] The company also acquired Atlantic Risk Management.[42] In November 2011, the company acquired Precept, an employee benefits consulting firm.[43] In February 2012, the company acquired the life insurance and property and casualty insurance divisions of Crump Group.[44] In July 2012, the bank acquired BankAtlantic, and its $2.1 billion in loans and $3.3 billion in deposits.[45] The company also began selling flood insurance online.[46] In December 2013, the bank acquired 21 Citigroup branches in Texas for $36 million, adding $1.2 billion in deposits.[47] In March 2014, the company acquired Woodbury & Co., an insurance broker operating in the Carolinas.[48] In April 2014, the company acquired Caledonian Insurance Group, which specialized in insurance brokerage services for the aviation industry.[49] In September 2014, the bank acquired 41 more Citigroup branches, adding $2.3 billion in deposits.[50]

In April 2015, BB&T subsidiary CRC Insurance Services acquired the assets of Napco LLC, a broker of catastrophic commercial insurance.[51] In June 2015, the bank acquired Bank of Kentucky for $363 million, which added $1.9 billion in assets and gave BB&T a presence in the Northern Kentucky-Cincinnati market and its first branches in Ohio.[52] The company also sold American Coastal Insurance and increased its ownership in AMRisc.[53] In August 2015, the bank acquired Susquehanna Bank for $2.5 billion, adding 240 branches and $18.7 billion in assets, and marking the bank's entry into Pennsylvania and New Jersey.[54] In April 2016, the company acquired Swett & Crawford, a wholesale insurance broker.[55] In April 2016, the bank acquired National Penn for $1.8 billion, which added 124 branches in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland, $9.6 billion in assets, and $6.7 billion in deposits.[56] On August 29, 2018, BB&T announced as many as 630 employees would move from its former corporate headquarters on West Nash Street in Wilson to a $35 million, 95,000-square-foot facility on Pine Street. On October 16, 2018, BB&T announced plan to move 500 employees into a 100,000-square-foot, $10 million building in Whiteville, N.C..[57]

On February 7, 2019, BB&T reported that it would acquire Atlanta-based SunTrust Banks in the biggest bank deal since the 2007-2009 financial crisis, to create the eighth-largest US bank. The bank also announced the move of its headquarters to Charlotte, North Carolina, retaining significant operations in Winston-Salem.[58][59] It was subsequently announced that Winston-Salem would be the bank's headquarters for community banking, while Atlanta would be the hub for wholesale / retail banking.[60]

On June 12, BB&T and SunTrust announced that the merged company would be called Truist Financial Corporation.[4] This name resulted from research that included hiring Interbrand, seeking opinions of employees of both banks, and focus groups.[61] The new name drew criticism from analysts and customers of both banks on social media.[62][63]

On June 17, Truliant Federal Credit Union of Winston-Salem filed suit claiming "trademark infringement", complaining of potential confusion between the two companies’ respective names, including Truliant products with "Tru" in their names.[61] The parties agreed to dismiss claims on August 5, 2020 and the lawsuit was closed the next day.[64]

The merger was completed at midnight December 6, 2019.[65] BB&T CEO Kelly King retained the same position with the new company. BB&T customers could begin using SunTrust ATMs free of charge, and SunTrust customers could begin using BB&T ATMs free of charge.[66] The merged bank will continue to operate under the BB&T and SunTrust names until the two banks' computer hardware, software and networking systems are streamlined, a process that could take as long as two years.[67] On December 11, 2019, Truist officially exercised its option to purchase Hearst Tower in downtown Charlotte from Cousins Properties. Truist will move its corporate headquarters to Hearst Tower, which was renamed to Truist Center.[68] Truist had taken over 550,000 square feet (51,000 m²) of 965,000 square feet (89,700 m²) total.[69] The bank announced the deal was completed March 31, 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, further actions will be delayed.[70]

Truist unveiled its logo in January 2020, with two Ts representing touch and technology, and a shade of purple combining the blue of SunTrust and the burgundy of BB&T.[71]

In February 2020, Truist announced it would be launching a nonprofit foundation called the Truist Foundation.[72]

In March 2020, Truist announced it would vacate its former headquarters building in Winston-Salem except for a branch office there and would move employees in its community/retail hub to other locations in the city, including the Park Building on Cherry Street and two locations on Stratford Road.[73]