Synovus Ranked Most Reputable Bank in the U.S. in American Banker's Survey of Bank Reputations

Synovus (NYSE:SNV) has been named "Most Reputable Bank" in the U.S. in the annual Survey of Bank Reputations conducted by Reputation Institute and published by American Banker. Of 42 banks included in the survey, Synovus ranked first overall, first among non-customers and in the top ten among customers. Synovus ranked second overall in 2016.

"We are proud to be named as the country's most reputable bank, and I am deeply grateful to the entire Synovus team for making this recognition possible," said Kessel D. Stelling, chairman and CEO of Synovus. "This year's ranking demonstrates that who we are, what we stand for, and how we do business resonate strongly with customers and non-customers. It also validates the strength of Synovus' service-focused culture as we transition to a single brand in 2018."

The annual Survey of Bank Reputations, which began in 2010, provides a detailed analysis of the components that together formulate corporate reputations, and how different banks rate on those measures. Synovus' overall score of 80.7 was the highest overall score in survey history and nearly 10 points above the 2017 industry average of 70.8.

"The most reputable banks in 2017 recognize that perceptions of good governance — inclusive of ethics, openness, honesty, and fairness — carry the most weight of importance," said Stephen Hahn-Griffiths, vice president and U.S. consulting director for Reputation Institute. "Highly reputable banks such as Synovus also realize that beyond the table stakes of delivering on high quality products and services, that perceptions of innovation are increasingly important, accounting for 13.5 percent of the weight of reputation."

The list of America's most reputable banks is compiled annually by American Banker and Reputation Institute, the world's foremost research and advisory firm focused solely on corporate reputations. The results and related analysis can be found on Reputation Institute's website at https://www.reputationinstitute.com/us-banking-reptrak and on American Banker's website.

Synovus Bank is a Georgia-chartered, FDIC-insured bank. Synovus Bank, together with its affiliates, provides commercial and retail banking, investment, and mortgage services to customers through 28 locally-branded divisions, 248 branches, and 328 ATMs in Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, Florida, and Tennessee. Synovus Bank was recognized as America's Most Reputable Bank by American Banker and the Reputation Institute in 2017, and was named "Best Regional Bank, Southeast" by MONEY Magazine for 2016-17. Synovus Bank is on the web at synovus.com, on Twitter @synovus, and on LinkedIn at http://linkedin.com/company/synovus. Equal Housing Lender.

ABOUT AMERICAN BANKER

American Banker, a SourceMedia brand, is the essential resource for senior executives in banking and financial services. American Banker Magazine is a monthly print publication, focusing on the ideas, the people, and the companies that are changing the way bankers do business. In 2015, American Banker was the recipient of the American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE) National Gold award for coverage of how federal bank regulations were preventing Somalis in the U.S. from sending money to their families in the war-ravaged country. In addition, American Banker was honored by ASBPE for a then-prescient exploration of how Bitcoin and blockchain technology are likely to disrupt some traditional financial services businesses, as well as an in-depth analysis of the turnaround effort that saved a Midwestern bank from collapse.

ABOUT REPUTATION INSTITUTE

Reputation Institute (RI) is the world's leading consulting and advisory firm for reputation. RI enables many of the world's leading companies to make more confident business decisions that build and protect reputation capital, analyze risk and sustainability topics, and drive competitive advantage. RI's most prominent management tool is the RepTrak® model for analyzing the reputations of companies and institutions — best known via the Global RepTrak® 100, the world's largest and most comprehensive study of corporate reputations, as well as Country RepTrak® and City RepTrak® studies that look at reputation across organizations within a given geography.

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