Columbus — Synovus Financial Corp. has grown markedly in recent years, and experts predict the second-largest financial company based in Georgia will keep expanding because its trademark blend of big-business savvy and small-town service can trump management and economic changes.

The Columbus-based company has been opening or snapping up banks in Georgia and select markets across the Southeast, such as last year's acquisition of Riverside Bancshares Inc. of Marietta.

Kimberly Smith/Staff (ENLARGE)

Richard E. Anthony, Synovus CEO: 'We have proven that our community banking approach appeals to retail consumers and business owners.'

AT A GLANCE • Clickable ticker: SNV • Headquarters: Columbus • CEO: Richard E. Anthony • Employees: 12,691 • Business: Provides banking, financial services in Georgia, other Southeastern states, and credit, debit and private label card processing through its 81 percent-owned Total System Services. • Online: synovus.com REVENUE • 2005: $2.5 billion • 2004: $2.1 billion • 2003: $1.9 billion • 2002: $1.7 billion • 2001: $1.5 billion NET INCOME • 2005: $516.4 million • 2004: $437 million • 2003: $388.9 million • 2002: $365.3 million • 2001: $311.6 million NET INCOME PER SHARE • 2005: $1.64 • 2004: $1.41 • 2003: $1.28 • 2002: $1.21 • 2001: $1.05 WANT REPRINTS? Our provider can reformat articles, with accompanying photos and graphics. Get more information on custom reprints — and custom plaques.

Despite an economy where rising interest rates have hampered lending and pressured banks to pay more to attract new deposits, analysts say Synovus is making mostly smart decisions that will sustain its growth.

All that comes despite several major personnel announcements, including the retirement plans of its longtime chairman and chief executive, James H. Blanchard.

Richard E. Anthony, who became CEO last July, will assume the chairman's title when Blanchard steps aside in October. Anthony will inherit a company with $29.2 billion of assets that has prospered by any yardstick.

Last year, the company's bottom line grew 18.2 percent from 2004. And in 2004, profits grew more than 12 percent from 2003, while earnings per share climbed more than 10 percent.

In the first quarter of this year, Synovus' earnings increased 15 percent to $134.5 million, or 43 cents per share, compared with $116.7 million, or 38 cents per share, a year ago.

The company, which also owns 81 percent of payments processor Total System Services, said it expects earnings this year to increase 12 percent to 14 percent over last year.

Core deposits, a key bank measure because it shows how well an institution is doing in getting new deposits, also grew in the quarter, by 14.5 percent. Loans, too, grew in the period, rising 9.8 percent.

Anthony agrees that he and other company officials can keep the good times rolling.

He said a key force behind the numbers is the company's mostly "hands-off" approach to the 40 banks it owns. Synovus' various banks retain their local decision-making ability, which allows them to respond quicker to market demands. But because they are part of a large company, they can compete with regional and national players like SunTrust Banks Inc. and Bank of America, he said.

The company also spent about $10 million in the last year on a face-lift for its branches, employee training and other areas to improve customer service.

"In every market, community banking is the look, the touch and the feel we want to have," Anthony said. "We have proven that our community banking approach appeals to retail consumers and business owners. Decision-making is done right at the bank, but we have the scale of a nearly $30 billion financial services company."

Eyeing acquisitions

That model will continue, he said, even as the bank looks to get bigger through acquisitions and growing market share in Florida, Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina.

In about a decade, he said he'd like a network of Synovus-owned community banks from Washington, D.C., to Florida. The company is looking at North Carolina, where it doesn't have a presence.

And though the company has started banks under the Synovus name — Jacksonville being one example — it is more likely to buy existing companies rather than start from scratch. The targets are those with about $1 billion in total assets.

"Our growth seems to come better when we buy a bank that has a small market share, maybe 3 or 4 percent, but one that's in a growing market, than buying a larger bank with larger market share," Anthony said.

In realizing this plan, however, Anthony said he would limit acquisitions to one or two a year, if and when they make sense, and focus heavily on growth of its existing holdings.

In fact, Synovus has done a better job at growing internally than rival SunTrust, which is much bigger in size, said Christopher W. Marinac, a banking analyst at FIG Partners in Atlanta.

Synovus, for example, grew total assets from about $10.8 billion at the end of 1998 to its current $29.2 billion today. That's an upswing of $18.35 billion, but only about 21 percent of that asset growth — $3.78 billion — came through acquisitions, Marinac said.

That's compared with SunTrust, which has total assets of $178.9 billion today, up from $93.2 billion at the end of 1998. That's an increase of $85.7 billion in total assets. But 58 percent of that, or $49.8 billion, came from acquisitions.

"To me, that says it all," Marinac said. "Their success in growing organically has a lot to do with being focused on customers. They are focused on winning business and providing a level of service based on knowing what the client needs."