Synovus Expands Large Corporate Banking Initiative

Synovus (NYSE - "SNV”), the Columbus, Georgia-based financial services company, today announced enhancements to its Large Corporate Banking initiative, designed to drive revenue growth in this high-potential market segment. Synovus has recently added strong, new talent and will continue to identify and realign existing talent to partner with its local bankers to build relationships with larger commercial customers across its five-state footprint. Because of its relationship-based delivery model, Synovus is able to offer larger companies a streamlined credit process that results in flexible, predictable and timely decisions.

As part of the strengthening of its Large Corporate Banking initiative, the company has named a leader for its new syndicated credit program and expanded its Large Corporate Banking team.

Chris S. Abele has joined Synovus as Director of Syndications. Most recently at Wells Fargo Bank, he will focus on building relationships with large corporate banks with which Synovus can partner on syndicated credits. Additionally, Abele will help develop Synovus’ in-house syndicated loan program. Abele’s background and expertise will not only fuel Commercial and Industrial (C&I) Loan growth, but also connect more commercial customers with Synovus’ full suite of specialized products and services, such as Private Banking, Treasury Management, Asset-based Lending, Insurance, Wealth Management and International Banking.

At Wachovia Bank/Wells Fargo Bank, Abele served as Vice President and Relationship Manager and was responsible for managing a high-end customer portfolio, as well as prospecting for new customers with $50-750 million in revenues. He also spent time with SouthTrust Bank as Vice President and Portfolio Manager. He has extensive expertise in developing and managing large corporate banking relationships and effectively identifying opportunities to offer customer solutions beyond lending using specialized products and services. Abele is a 1997 graduate of the University of Alabama with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Management.

Synovus has also named five of its current corporate bankers and a portfolio manager as its Large Corporate Banking team. David Bowman, Charles C. Clark, Jr, Anne H. Lovette, Kelly D. Peace and Julie G. Kendrick, based in Synovus’ Birmingham office, and Terry Herron, based in Alpharetta, Georgia, have collectively nearly 100 years of experience in Corporate Banking. This team will partner with Synovus’ local banking and financial management experts to build relationships with larger revenue companies across its footprint.

"Synovus has a deep commitment to growth in commercial banking,” said Curtis Perry, Synovus’ Chief Commercial Officer. "These are significant steps towards ramping up our already strong commercial banking efforts and even better positions us to leverage our unique relationship-banking delivery model to serve this market segment. We are assembling some of the most experienced, knowledgeable corporate bankers in the industry and giving them the authority, products and services they need to quickly identify needs and offer solutions to larger revenue companies.”

Synovus is a financial services company with $30 billion in assets based in Columbus, Georgia. Synovus Financial Corp.'s bank divisions provide commercial and retail banking, investment and mortgage services to customers in Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, Florida and Tennessee. See Synovus Financial Corp. on the web at www.synovus.com.