By Shelia Watson

CHARLESTON -- The event SunTrust Banks Inc. hosted earlier this month at its 276 East Bay St. office signified more than a mere ribbon-cutting of another branch. It confirmed the bank’s strategy of fast-paced growth is well on track.

“The thought was to open 16 offices within the first 24 months of being in this area, and we’re on track with that,” said Mark Lattanzio, SunTrust’s market president and community banking manager for the Charleston area.

The East Bay Street branch is the 10th retail office to date and the fourth to open this year. The first local branch opened in April 2006, and two more openings are planned for the remainder of 2007. One branch will open at the intersection of Mathis Ferry Road and U.S. Highway 17 on July 17 and one at Coosaw Creek on Dorchester Road on Oct. 15.

Four more will open in the first two quarters of 2008.

“That’ll be the initial 16,” said Lattanzio. “After that, we’ll take a look and consider our next strategy. We’re looking at locations on Johns Island, Moncks Corner and possibly another presence in North Charleston, as well as in the James Island and West Ashley areas.”

Lattanzio referred to SunTrust’s entrance into the Charleston market as unique.

“It was the first time we entered a market without buying a bank, and there’s an advantage to doing it that way,” he explained. “For instance, what you buy you don’t necessarily get (with an acquisition or merger). Some of the personnel leave, and sometimes the portfolio is not as clean as you thought. So we consider our strategy a better model.”

Many people familiar with SunTrust welcomed the bank’s entrance into this market, Lattanzio said.

“A lot of people were asking ‘What took you so long to get here?’ We’ve been blown away by the reception,” he said. “We’re leveraging the full franchise. We have a great mortgage team, and we came in with our commercial, wealth management and retail services.”

In addition, he said, many of the bankers working with SunTrust are well established in the area and have been doing commercial loans in Charleston for a number of years.

“We’ve populated ourselves with seasoned bankers, and we have a commitment to the area and the stability to make it work,” he said. “Our mortgage group was recognized nationally by J.D. Power in 2006, and we have the No. 3 market share in area.”

Lattanzio attributed the bank’s fast growth to the overall favorable economic conditions in the coastal South Carolina region. Yet, when asked whether the area is becoming saturated with banking facilities, Lattanzio said he believes the area is not quite at that stage.

“You can make a case for that with several industries. For example, they’re certainly experiencing saturation in the housing market right now. We’re overbuilt at the moment, but we’ll be fine eventually,” he said.

“But in the banking industry, there’s a need for facilities. More folks are moving to South Carolina, and some of them are familiar with us, and they appreciate our efforts to put offices that’ll be convenient to them. Plus, the banking community has met with a lot of consolidation, and when there are consolidations, they often downsize. With the actual bank branches per capita, we’re probably where we need to be and not necessarily overbanked at this time.”

Even with $150 million in deposits in local branches, Lattanzio said SunTrust is still a growing bank in this area.

“SunTrust is the seventh largest bank in America, and in bringing that to the Charleston area, we consider it a significant economic impact,” he said. “We’re very proud of that, but we’re equally proud of being a bank that believes in giving back to its community.”

One of the bank’s mottos, he said, is “If you build the community, you’ll build your bank.”

With that in mind, SunTrust has focused on contributing and volunteering with arts, education and human services.

“We helped the Charleston County School District to replace school books in libraries, helped out with the Footlight Players and the Charleston Symphony Orchestra and gave funds to the endowed chair program at the Medical University of South Carolina,” he said.

The bank also recently contributed to the Roper St. Francis Oncology Center and to MUSC’s Storm Eye Institute with a multi-year gift that will enable an outreach initiative to provide the poor with eye care.

“I’m amazed at how much we’ve done for the community in the short time we’ve been here,” he said. “We’re still relatively small, although we’ll be growing when our offices fill out over time.

“But it shows that not only can we deliver with branches where our clients are, but we also give back to the community. That’s really significant.”