About us

Our history

Our company was founded in 1888 with a simple act of kindness. At Eagle & Phenix Mill in Columbus, Georgia, a mill worker’s dress tangled in the factory machinery. To the surprise of her co-workers, money sewn into the hem spilled across the floor. She believed her dress was the safest place to keep her savings.

G. Gunby Jordan, the mill's secretary and treasurer, witnessed the incident and offered to keep her money in the mill safe and pay her monthly interest on the deposits. He soon offered the same service to all the mill workers. These first deposits inspired Mr. Jordan to establish the institution that became Synovus.

More than 130 years have passed since the mill worker’s dress tore. Mr. Jordan and a group of banking pioneers built our company's foundation on integrity, character, and principle: treating people right and doing the right thing. That foundation has endured across the years, with our basic values of superior leadership, trusting relationships, and excellence in all we do guiding the company forward along a path of profitable growth and financial strength.

 

Milestones

1888 G. Gunby Jordan initiated the establishment of two banks: Third National Bank and The Columbus Savings Bank.
1930 Third National Bank and The Columbus Savings merged to form Columbus Bank and Trust.
1959 Columbus Bank and Trust became one of the first U.S. banks to offer charge cards.
1972 CB&T Bancshares, Inc. was created as a one-bank holding company for Columbus Bank and Trust.
1974 CB&T began offering third-party credit card transaction processing to banks in Georgia and other states through its bankcard processing software, The Total System.
1976 CB&T Bancshares became Georgia's first company to act on the state’s newly enacted multi-bank holding company law with the acquisition of Commercial Bank of Thomasville, Georgia, and Commercial Bank and Trust of Troup County, Georgia.
1983 The bank's third-party transaction processing business was spun off as Total System Services, Inc. (TSYS), which became a publicly traded firm majority owned by CB&T.
1988 CB&T's banking operations cross state lines for the first time through the acquisitions of banks in Florida and Alabama.
1989 CB&T Bancshares, Inc. changed its name to Synovus Financial Corp. and listed its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SNV.
1992 Synovus expanded in Alabama with the acquisition of First Commercial Bancshares, Inc. and its subsidiaries in Birmingham, Montgomery, Tuscaloosa, Huntsville, and Jasper.
1994 Synovus Mortgage Corp. was established.
1995 Synovus entered South Carolina with the acquisition of Columbia-headquartered National Bank of South Carolina.
1999 Synovus ranked number 1 on FORTUNE’s 100 Best Companies to Work for in America.
2002 Synovus entered Tennessee with the acquisition of The Bank of Nashville.
2004 Synovus launched its first de novo bank and single-branded bank, Synovus Bank of Jacksonville, Florida.
2005 Synovus increased its presence in Florida by merging banks in St. Petersburg, Sarasota and Palm Harbor under one charter, Synovus Bank of Tampa Bay.
2007 TSYS was spun off into a separate company, effective December 31, 2007.
2010 Synovus consolidated 30 bank charters into one. Kessel Stelling named President and CEO.
2012 Stelling named Chairman and CEO.
2014 Synovus launched “Bank of Here” marketing campaign.
2016 Synovus acquired Entaire Global Companies, a private life insurance premium finance lender to commercial borrowers through its principal subsidiary, Global One.
2017 Synovus was named “Most Reputable Bank” in the U.S. in the annual Survey of Bank Reputations conducted by RepTrak (previously Reputation Institute) and published by American Banker. Of 42 banks included in the survey, Synovus ranked first overall.
2018 Synovus completed transition of 26 separately-branded banks to the Synovus name. Also announced acquisition of Florida Community Bank (FCB).
2019 Synovus completed acquisition of FCB (Jan. 1) and successfully integrated its systems and customers.
2021 Kevin Blair named Synovus president and CEO.

Synovus established the Here Matters Community Fund, a charitable giving fund that enabled the bank to expand its investments in communities throughout its footprint.