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BB&T

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BB&T

Winston-Salem, N.C.

Assets: $135 billion
Deposits: $88 billion
Stock performance YTD: +1.1%
Employees: 28,036

BB&T (BBT) held to conservative lending standards through the housing bubble and largely avoided the mortgage-related losses that are bogging down other banks. Chairman and CEO John Allison made headlines with his Sept. 23 note to Congress criticizing the proposed rescue plan as "primarily a bailout of poorly run financial companies" that would aid Wall Street titans rather than conventional banks. Even after a 23% plunge on Sept. 29, along with the entire financial sector, BB&T stock remains at 31. BB&T operates 1,500 branches in 11 states.