The South Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ/NM: TSFG) announced that it has named Andy Morris as Executive Vice President – Commercial Real Estate Director. In this new role for TSFG, Morris will provide the commercial real estate banking teams with leadership, sales management, and guidance in structuring, pricing, and credit quality. He reports directly to TSFG’s Chief Risk and Credit Officer, Lynn Harton.
"We are very pleased to have someone with Andy’s reputation and depth of commercial real estate experience in the Southeast join our team,” said H. Lynn Harton, Chief Risk and Credit Officer of The South Financial Group. “Andy and I worked together at Regions so I personally know his commercial real estate acumen and market knowledge that he gained from over 30 years with SouthTrust, Wachovia, and Regions. He’s a strong leader, and we’ll look to Andy to help us continue to shift our commercial real estate portfolio toward income-producing properties and keep credit quality at the forefront. We welcome him and look forward to adding his experienced leadership to our team.”
Morris brings to his role over 30 years of progressive experience in commercial real estate banking. He spent 30 years with SouthTrust Bank and Wachovia (following its acquisition of SouthTrust in 2004). At SouthTrust, Morris built and led their commercial real estate line of business. At Wachovia, he served as the regional manager for commercial real estate activities in Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Most recently, as an Executive Vice President at Regions Bank, Morris served as the senior real estate executive (pre-merger) and real estate line of business head (following its 2006 merger with AmSouth).
Morris received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Troy State University.
The South Financial Group is the largest publicly-traded bank holding company headquartered in South Carolina and ranks among the top 50 U.S. commercial bank holding companies in total assets. At December 31, 2007, it had approximately $13.9 billion in total assets and 172 branch offices in Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina. TSFG focuses on fast-growing banking markets in the Southeast, concentrating its growth in metropolitan statistical areas. TSFG operates Carolina First Bank, which conducts banking operations in North Carolina and South Carolina (as Carolina First Bank), in Florida (as Mercantile Bank), and on the Internet (as Bank CaroLine). At December 31, 2007, approximately 47% of TSFG’s total customer deposits were in South Carolina, 38% were in Florida, and 15% were in North Carolina. Investor information is available at www.thesouthgroup.com.
Contacts:
Mary M. Gentry, EVP –
Investor Relations, 864-421-1068
Christopher T. Holmes, EVP –
Retail Banking and IR,
864-255-8970
