Colonial Bank

Colonial Bank
Former type Subsidiary of Colonial BancGroup
Industry Financial Banking Services
Genre Financial Services
Fate The Alabama State Banking Department declared Colonial Bank insolvent, seized it, and appointed the FDIC to become the failed bank's receiver. The FDIC sold Colonial Bank to BB&T.
Founded 1981
Founder(s) Bobby Lowder
Defunct August 14, 2009 (2009-08-14)
Headquarters Montgomery, Alabama, United States
Area served Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Louisiana, Missouri, Nevada, Texas
Key people Executive Board
Total assets $26 Billion
Owner(s) Bobby Lowder
Employees < 10,000
Parent Colonial BancGroup
Website www.ColonialBank.com

Colonial Bank, formerly a subsidiary of Colonial Bancgroup Inc., was headquartered in Montgomery, Alabama. Colonial Bank had 346 branches in the states of Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Nevada and Texas. Colonial's assets had grown from $166 million in 1981 to $26 billion. This growth can be attributed to Colonial's focus on establishing a strong presence in diverse and growing markets. Colonial expanded from its base of Alabama to fast growing regional markets such as Florida, Georgia, Texas, and Nevada. Colonial Bank was the fifth largest commercial bank in Florida and 27th largest commercial bank in the USA. Colonial Bank was frequently the target of rumors that it would be acquired by a larger bank.

The bank ran into problems after it was revealed that it had bought $1 billion in mortgages from Taylor, Bean & Whitaker that Taylor Bean did not own in one of the biggest fraud cases in history. The CEO of Taylor, Bean & Whitaker, Lee Farkas, was put on trial and found guilty of fraud. Bobby Lowder, the CEO of Colonial Bank, was investigated and was not involved with the fraud.[1]

Colonial disclosed its legal problems on Aug. 4, 2009, stating that federal agents had executed a search warrant at its mortgage warehouse lending offices in Orlando, Florida, and that it had been forced to sign a cease and desist order with the Federal Reserve and regulators at the end of last month in relation to its accounting practices and its recognition of losses.[2][3]

On August 14, 2009, the bank failed and its 346 branches were seized by regulators. $22 billion of the bank's deposits were subsequently sold by the FDIC to BB&T Corp. The bank's failure was the largest bank failure in 2009 and the 6th largest bank ever to fail in the United States, costing the FDIC's Deposit Insurance Fund an estimated $2.8 billion. It was also the 74th bank failure of 2009.[4][5]

Contents

Key People - Major Markets

Alabama

Huntsville

John McMullan : President and Chief Executive Officer - Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida and Huntsville, AL; President of Northern Region Lending
Paula Renfroe : Senior Executive Vice President - Huntsville, AL; President and Chief Executive Officer of Private Banking - Huntsville, AL

Birmingham

Not enough data for allocation.

Montgomery

Robert E. Lowder : Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer of Colonial Bank, Colonial BancGroup & the Executive Board of Directors
Sarah H. Moore : Chief Financial Officer

Mobile

Edward O'Gwynn : President and Chief Executive Officer - Alabama Corporate Lending
Leah Junkins : Regional Retail Banking Manager

References

  1. ^ http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110420/ap_on_bi_ge/us_tarp_case_trial
  2. ^ Press, CNN (2009-08-15). "BB&T buys Colonial bank; 4 other banks fail - CNN Money". http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/14/news/companies/colonial_bancgroup/?postversion=2009081500. Retrieved 2009-08-15. 
  3. ^ Press, South Florida Business Journal (2009-06-10). "Colonial hit with cease and desist order". http://southflorida.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2009/06/08/daily24.html. Retrieved 2009-08-15. 
  4. ^ Press, Associated (2009-08-14). "Colonial BancGroup shut by regulators: Associated Press Business News - MSN Money". http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?feed=AP&date=20090814&id=10276467. Retrieved 2009-08-15. 
  5. ^ "BB&T, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Assumes All of the Deposits of Colonial Bank, Montgomery, Alabama - FDIC Failed bank list" (Press release). FDIC. 2009-08-14. http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/press/2009/pr09143.html. Retrieved 2009-08-15. 

External links