SunTrust is just one of many Georgia banks which are having problems today. According to an article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution dated March 1, 2010, which cited data from the FDIC, Georgia banks suffered $3.2 billion in losses in 2009 and 63% of the state's 305 banks ended last year in the red.

Ken Thomas, an independent, Miami-based bank analyst and economist, says that Georgia has the largest number of problem banks in the US and the largest number of failed banks, he says. Florida has about 10% of all the problem banks in the nation, while Georgia has 15%.

As of year-end 2009, SunTrust Bank's Tier 1 leverage capital ratio of 7.51% was below the peer average (banks of similar size as SunTrust, which had $164 billion in assets as of year-end 2009, would be peers) of 8.67% and, in fact, is in just the 30th percentile for that peer group, says Thomas. Total past due and non-accruing loans are creeping up and stood at 5.83% as of year-end 2009, which again is higher than peers and above the 5% watchlist level," he says.