Overview
Synovus Financial Corp. is a regional bank holding company with 31 subsidiary banks and other offices in high-growth Southeastern markets, including Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, Florida and Tennessee. The Columbus, Ga., company provides commercial and retail banking, financial management, insurance, mortgage and leasing services. Each of its subsidiary banks in the five-state network operate independently, dealing with local decision-makers.
The company slashed 650 jobs in its five-state banking network in a 2008 cost-cutting and efficiency initiative dubbed "Project Optimus," and it recently said it would cut 200 more. Like other regional banks, Synovus has suffered losses from failed residential real-estate development and construction loans and forced to write off hundreds of millions of dollars in bad loans. It received $968 million from the U.S. government’s TARP bank relief program. The company recently created a "bad bank" subsidiary, Broadway Asset Management, staffed with 31 special asset managers to isolate and eventually sell troubled property on its balance sheet.