A message from
Chairman and CEO Kessel Stelling
May 8, 2020
As some states and communities are seeing curves flatten and businesses are attempting to safely reopen, we’re seeing signs of optimism all around.
For the Synovus team, this COVID-19 pandemic has renewed the belief in our purpose – to be here for our customers and communities, in good times and when hardships come; to be accessible, present, and to personally partner to meet the most critical needs. To say it’s been a silver lining – a true privilege – to stand beside our customers and to support our community healthcare heroes, organizations, and businesses in various ways would be an understatement.
There have been so many defining moments for our team over the past few weeks. We’re especially grateful for the opportunity to have helped thousands of our small business customers through the Paycheck Protection Program (P3). The process may not have been as fast and efficient at every turn as we’d have liked, but our team was determined to stand up our online process as soon as possible for the benefit of customers. For the thousands with whom we celebrated success, we’re deeply humbled by your stories. I’ve spoken with so many of you, and our team has been connected to thousands more, who would not have made it through this crisis without P3 funds. We’ll admit it’s been emotional at times because your names are more than familiar to us. You represent relationships. In so many situations, we’ve been with you since day one as you’ve built your businesses and fulfilled your dreams, and it’s those deep ties that compelled hundreds of our team members to literally work 24/7 for days on end until they’d seen every customer through. To date, we’ve been part of distributing almost $3 billion in P3 funds to thousands of small business customers who employ nearly 340,000 individuals across our Southeast footprint.
Our P3 response has been one of many great learning experiences during this crisis. In so many ways, we’ve more clearly understood just how agile, responsive, and creative we can be, and you’ve played an important part in our discovery of new and improved ways to make our company stronger and help us serve you even better post COVID-19. We watched as you adapted to new ways of making deposits through the My Synovus app or our ATMs, or effectively collaborated from afar with your financial advisor or relationship manager, and we were able to gauge your interest in leveraging regular economic outlook conference calls to inform your personal or business decisions. We’ve observed as you’ve adopted remote work habits for your business and as you’ve embraced new products and services that empower your employees to more efficiently and safely manage the business from wherever you are.
As we continue to serve you day-to-day with a mostly remote workforce, appointment-only branch model, and through our drive thrus and convenient digital banking channels, we’re also actively planning the safe and staged return of our team members to a “new normal” post COVID-19. As the economy gradually reopens, we’re watching, learning, and listening to the advice of healthcare experts and the experience of others to ensure we move at the right and best pace and approach for our team members and customers. We’re in no rush, as we’ve never closed our doors the past several weeks. We’ve worked hard to continue interacting with you to the best of our ability, and even as we adjust the ways we serve you post COVID-19, our commitment to a relationship-centered, exceptional, and seamless customer experience will not change.
As you experience new and emerging needs over the coming days and weeks, know we stand ready to support you. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to let us know where and how we can help.
Above all, stay safe, stay healthy, and know we’re always here for you.
Thank you for the privilege of being your financial partner.
Sincerely,
Kessel D. Stelling
Chairman and CEO
March 12, 2020
Dear Valued Customers,
Our nation is facing a time unlike any in our history. Every individual, family, business, and community is impacted in some way by the global COVID-19 pandemic.
We’re all in this together, and rest assured our team is fully committed to be here for you. Our company is financially strong with robust capital and liquidity levels, and well-positioned to navigate through this time of global economic uncertainty.
For 132 years, we’ve built our organization and based every decision on one key principle – that the people we serve matter most.
Our customers matter.
With you in mind, we manage our business every day preparing for the future – that means not only investing in creating better experiences for you, but also preparing for the unexpected.
As our customers manage through very real impacts from this crisis, our local presence, deep relationships, and personal service aptly position us to respond. Though “social distancing” has limited our ability to be face-to-face with our clients, it has in no way diminished our commitment and determination to connect in some way with every customer we serve.
We’ve implemented several provisions, including payment relief assistance on certain loans, and our team is available to offer financial guidance during this difficult time. For more details on these and other available options for both our consumer and business customers, contact your banker, your financial advisor, or our Customer Care team at 1-888-SYNOVUS (796-6887).
As we align with requests to do all we can to help slow the spread of COVID-19, our ability to provide in-person service may become limited for a while. But regardless of how we interact with you, we’re no less here. Our Customer Care Center, drive-thrus, full-service ATMs, and our My Synovus online and mobile banking channels all remain available to you. Our website has up-to-date information about our operations and services, and we’ll be sure to let you know through Synovus.com and other channels when we make changes that impact you.
Our team members matter.
As much as we value you, we value our team members who take such great care of you. While they are on our frontlines and providing support in our back offices, they’re simultaneously dealing with impacts to their own lives. Yet, they are determined to also care for you. To support them, we’re offering enhanced pay and leave benefits. We’re encouraging team members who can to work from home, and we’re practicing diligent cleaning procedures to protect team members and customers who work in or visit our sites.
Our communities matter.
Though preventative measures are often inconvenient, we trust you see our actions as we do – prudent and necessary to fulfill our purpose to lead and strengthen the communities we serve. As we continue to monitor and heed guidance from relevant state and federal organizations, we’re also looking outward into our communities, monitoring needs, and responding where we see opportunities to help.
In closing.
Our team is working around the clock to ensure we continue to serve and support you. As we respond to situations and decisions in this rapidly changing environment, I constantly remind our team to remain grounded in who we are and in what we believe – people come first.
On behalf of the entire Synovus team, thank you. Thank you for letting us be your bank, and for allowing us to partner with and support you during times like these. When this crisis eventually subsides, we’ll still be here for you.
Sincerely,
Kessel D. Stelling
Chairman and CEO