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The Right Markets
Since 1996, Colonial has deliberately increased its presence in states whose growth patterns are more robust than our home state of Alabama. We’ve concentrated on these markets because they are growing, and we expect them to continue to grow faster than any other areas of the country. Furthermore, almost all surveys show that population growth and economic activity in the U.S. are moving to the South and West.
While our home state of Alabama is not one of our fastest-growing markets, it has been growing and is projected to continue to grow. In fact, Alabama had a higher population percentage growth from the 2000 Census to 2004 than New York! Our Alabama franchise remains profitable for the Company, maintains the highest cross-sell ratio and ranks first among the Company’s regions with a noninterest income to average assets ratio of 1.21%, a level we’d like all of our regions to achieve.
The Company’s Georgia region has traditionally been more of a loan generating franchise, having a smaller branch network than many of the larger banks in Atlanta. However, our branches are located in growth areas and our people have put an emphasis on sales and private banking efforts in niche markets of Atlanta. Thus, for the last couple of years we have experienced sizeable increases in average non-time deposits and electronic banking services.
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