Synovus Financial Corp. banks boost profits

Pedestrians walk past a Synovus ATM off Market Street in Chattanooga.
Pedestrians walk past a Synovus ATM off Market Street in Chattanooga.

Synovus Financial Corp., the parent company of Cohutta Bank in Chattanooga, boosted its fourth quarter earnings by 14.5 percent from a year ago to $50.6 million, or 37 cents per share.

The quarterly earnings gain boosted Synovus' profits for all of 2014 to $185 million, up 56.1 percent from 2013 net income.

Synovus CEO Kessel D. Stelling said bank loans in the past year grew by 5.2 percent while the non-performing loan ratio ended the year at only 0.94 percent.

"We continued to maintain strong capital levels throughout 2014, and announced in October our plan to return excess capital to shareholders through a $250 million stock repurchase plan and a 43 percent increase in the common stock dividend," Stelling said. "As we enter 2015, our focus remains on caring for customers and improving profitability through balance sheet and fee income growth, as well as a continued focus on efficiency."

Synovus deposits grew to end 2014 at $6.72 billion, Stelling said.

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