National Bank of Commerce (Memphis)
Encyclopedia
National Bank of Commerce was a bank
Bank
A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...

 headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....

 until it was taken over by SunTrust Banks
SunTrust Banks
SunTrust Banks, Inc., is an American bank holding company. The largest subsidiary is SunTrust Bank. It had US$172.7 billion in assets as of September 30, 2009...

 in 2005.

History

Bank of Commerce & Trust began in 1873. Its limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

 Classical Revival
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...

 building was built in 1929.

The 31-story One Commerce Square
One Commerce Square
One Commerce Square is a 30-story skyscraper, which was formerly known as the NBC Building and the SunTrust Building, and is the fourth tallest building in Memphis, Tennessee. The building is located at the corner of Monroe Avenue and South Main Street. It is tall and has of office space.It is...

 was completed in 1973 and has also been called the NBC Building and the SunTrust Building.

In 1982, when Thomas M. Garrott became president of National Bank of Commerce and its parent company National Commerce Bancorporation (NCBC), NBC had 24 branches in Memphis.

In 1985, NCBC made an arrangement with Kroger
Kroger
The Kroger Co. is an American supermarket chain founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cincinnati, Ohio. It reported US$ 76.7 billion in sales during fiscal year 2009. It is the country's largest grocery store chain and its second-largest grocery retailer by volume and second-place general retailer...

, which resulted in NBC branches being located inside grocery stores in Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

, Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

, Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...

, Mississippi and Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

. The first in-store branch opened in Germantown, Tennessee
Germantown, Tennessee
Germantown is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee. The population was 38,844 at the 2010 census.Germantown is a suburb of Memphis, bordering it to the east. Germantown's economy is dominated by the retail and commercial service sectors; there is no heavy industry in Germantown...

 later that year. During 1985 and 1986, NBC entered the Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

 and Knoxville, Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...

 markets under the names "Nashville Bank of Commerce" and "NBC Knoxville Bank".

By 1988, NBC had 48 branches, 33 inside stores.

At the end of 1992, NCBC had total assets of $2.3 billion. Garrott became chairman whenBbruce Campbell retired.

In 1993, NCBC bought the charter of First Federal Savings Bank
Savings bank
A savings bank is a financial institution whose primary purpose is accepting savings deposits. It may also perform some other functions.In Europe, savings banks originated in the 19th or sometimes even the 18th century. Their original objective was to provide easily accessible savings products to...

 of Belzoni, Mississippi
Belzoni, Mississippi
Belzoni is a city in Humphreys County, Mississippi, in the Mississippi Delta region, on the Yazoo River. The population was 2,663 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Humphreys County...

, allowing NCBC to operate in more than one state. Later in the year, NBC entered Roanoke, Virginia
Roanoke, Virginia
Roanoke is an independent city in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. state of Virginia and is the tenth-largest city in the Commonwealth. It is located in the Roanoke Valley of the Roanoke Region of Virginia. The population within the city limits was 97,032 as of 2010...

.

In 1994, NCBC began a consulting subsidiary and entered the Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina market.

In 1995 and 1999, U.S. Banker named NCBC the number one financial institution of the top 100 in the United States.

In 1996, NBC entered the Greensboro/Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Piedmont Triad
The Piedmont Triad, or Triad, is a north-central region of the U.S. state of North Carolina that consists of the area within and surrounding the three major cities of Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and High Point. This close group or "triad" of cities lies in the Piedmont geographical region of the...

 market and north Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

.

In 1997, NCBC and Ukrop's started First Market Bank, which the two companies owned jointly, with branches in Ukrop's Super Markets. This marked the company's entry into Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...

. That same year, the company opened its first Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...

 branches.

At the end of the year, NCBC had $4.7 billion in assets and 128 branches, 109 in stores.

In 1998, NCBC bought First Citizens Bancshares Company of Marion, Arkansas
Marion, Arkansas
Marion is a city in Crittenden County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 8,901 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Crittenden County, and is part of the Memphis metropolitan area...

; Bancshares of West Memphis in West Memphis, Arkansas
West Memphis, Arkansas
West Memphis is the largest city in Crittenden County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 27,666 at the 2000 census, with an estimated population of 28,181 in 2005, and 31,329 in 2011 ranking it as the state's 11th largest city, behind Hot Springs...

; and First Community Bancorp of Cartersville, Georgia
Cartersville, Georgia
Cartersville is a town in Bartow County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 19,7314. The city is the county seat of Bartow County.-Geography:Cartersville was named for Colonel Farish Carter....

. NBC opened its first free-standing North Carolina branch May 1, 1998 in a former UCB
United Carolina Bank
United Carolina Bank was a bank headquartered in Whiteville, North Carolina. It was formed in 1980 by the merger of four banks, including Waccamaw Bank of Whiteville...

 in Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...

; at that time 110 of its 130 branches were inside Kroger
Kroger
The Kroger Co. is an American supermarket chain founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cincinnati, Ohio. It reported US$ 76.7 billion in sales during fiscal year 2009. It is the country's largest grocery store chain and its second-largest grocery retailer by volume and second-place general retailer...

 stores, 23 of those in North Carolina.

In 1999, BankINVESTOR named NCBC the top financial institution in the United States in terms of five-year results. That same year, NCBC bought First Financial Corporation of Mount Juliet, Tennessee and entered the Charleston, West Virginia
Charleston, West Virginia
Charleston is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is located at the confluence of the Elk and Kanawha Rivers in Kanawha County. As of the 2010 census, it has a population of 51,400, and its metropolitan area 304,214. It is the county seat of Kanawha County.Early...

 market. NCBC also joined Standard & Poor's
Standard & Poor's
Standard & Poor's is a United States-based financial services company. It is a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies that publishes financial research and analysis on stocks and bonds. It is well known for its stock-market indices, the US-based S&P 500, the Australian S&P/ASX 200, the Canadian...

 MidCap 400 Bank Index.

In 2000, NCBC bought Piedmont Bancorp. of Hillsborough, North Carolina
Hillsborough, North Carolina
Hillsborough is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 5,653 at the 2008 census. It is the county seat of Orange County....

.

Later that same year, NCBC agreed to a $1.94 billion "merger of equals" with Durham, North Carolina
Durham, North Carolina
Durham is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Durham County and also extends into Wake County. It is the fifth-largest city in the state, and the 85th-largest in the United States by population, with 228,330 residents as of the 2010 United States census...

-based CCB
Central Carolina Bank and Trust
Central Carolina Bank and Trust was a bank headquartered in Durham, North Carolina. It began in 1961 with the merger of Durham Bank & Trust and University National Bank of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. CCB merged with SunTrust Banks of Atlanta, Georgia in 2005...

, which had 208 branches and $8.2 billion in assets in March 2000. NCBC would be the surviving corporation. Corporate headquarters would stay in Memphis but Durham would be the operational headquarters. NCBC chairman and chief executive officer Garrott would become chairman, while CCB chairman and CEO Ernest L. Roessler would become CEO of the new company. The combination would give NCBC "market capitalization of about $4.2 billion, combined assets of $15 billion, deposits of $11.3 billion and 370 branches in eight states". Wachovia Securities
Wachovia Securities
Wells Fargo Advisors, is a subsidiary of Wells Fargo, located in St. Louis, Missouri. It is the second largest brokerage firm in the United States as of October 1, 2007 with $1.17 trillion retail client assets under management....

 vice president John B. Moore pointed out that NCBC "is the first major out-of-state bank to come into North Carolina, which is a highly competitive, very concentrated market."

Unlike CCB, which grew by buying other banks, NBC added new markets, with a strategy of one free-standing branch for every three in-store locations.

NCBC had $7.3 billion in assets and 162 National Bank of Commerce (NBC) branches in Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

, Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...

, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

, West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...

, Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...

 and North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

.

In April 2001, National Commerce Bancorporation changed its name to National Commerce Financial Corporation. In July 2001, National Commerce Financial Corporation received approval to list its stock on the New York Stock Exchange
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...

 using the symbol NCF.

Later in July 2001, NCF announced the $126 million purchase of SouthBanc Shares, Inc. of Anderson, South Carolina
Anderson, South Carolina
Anderson is a city in and the county seat of Anderson County, South Carolina, United States. The population was estimated at 26,242 in 2006, and the city was the center of an urbanized area of 70,530...

, which had 11 branches and $671 million in assets, $508 million in loans and $452 million in deposits in the Greenville-Spartanburg area.

Also in 2001, NCF bought First Vantage Bank of Knoxville, Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...

, and announced a plan to locate ten branches inside Bi-Lo
BI-LO
BI-LO is the name of several different supermarket chains around the world:* BI-LO * BI-LO in the southeastern United States* For the Bi-Lo franchise in the northeastern United States, see Penn Traffic...

 stores in South Carolina.

Later in 2001, NCF announced it would enter the Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...

 market with 30 Kroger branches, and the Savannah, Georgia
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...

 market with four.

As a result of the First Union-Wachovia merger, NCF bought twelve branches of the former First Union
First Union Corporation
First Union Corporation was a banking company providing commercial and retail banking services in eleven states in the eastern U.S. First Union also provided various other financial services, including mortgage banking, credit card, investment banking , investment advisory, home equity lending,...

 and Wachovia
Wachovia
Wachovia was a diversified financial services company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Before its acquisition by Wells Fargo in 2008, Wachovia was the fourth-largest bank holding company in the United States based on total assets...

 banks in Georgia and Virginia which would become NBC branches. 25 other branches became CCB locations as of February 15, 2002, and one became a First Bank
First Bancorp
First Bancorp is a bank holding company in Troy, North Carolina. It operates as First Bank in North and South Carolina and First Bank of Virginia in Virginia. The company has total assets of $3.3 billion.-Description:...

.

When Garrott announced his retirement in April 2002, NCF had 447 branches, 156 of them in stores, in nine states.

In 2003, NCF and Wal-Mart started Wal-Mart Money Centers, located inside Wal-Marts.

In April 2004, NCF announced it would locate 70 NBC branches inside Wal-Marts in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

 and Georgia, marking the company's entry into Florida. Three-fourths of the branches would be in Florida, in such areas as Jacksonville
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...

, Orlando
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...

 and Tampa
Tampa, Florida
Tampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....

-St. Petersburg. NBC already operated Wal-Mart branches in the Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga is the fourth-largest city in the US state of Tennessee , with a population of 169,887. It is the seat of Hamilton County...

 area. At the time, the planned NBC branches were not being called Wal-Mart Money Centers. NCF had about 1250 employees and nearly 500 branches.

In May 2004, NCF announced it would merge with SunTrust, making SunTrust the seventh-largest bank in the United States. Several Kroger branches in the Nashville, Tennessee and Durham, North Carolina areas were merged into U.S. Bank branches. Also announced at that time were the fates of NCF's major executives. NCF chief operating officer
Chief operating officer
A Chief Operating Officer or Director of Operations can be one of the highest-ranking executives in an organization and comprises part of the "C-Suite"...

 Richard Furr would head the Carolinas group. Scott Edwards, chief administrative officer, would become head of credit for the Carolinas and be based in Durham. Robert Jones would succeed the retiring Richard Glover as Triangle-area president. John Stallings, NCF head of retail banking, would oversee SunTrust's Carolinas group retail business. NCF Atlanta region president would take over the Carolinas group commercial and commercial real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...

areas.
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