In the summer of 1998, Bob Aston and its partners, all bankers, spent many days discussing their plans to start the bank in the south-eastern region of Virginia, USA. Deregulation was the transformation of the banking industry. In Virginia, mergers and acquisitions in the industry led to the big banks that were headquartered in other states. Aston says that the bank as he knew it disappears. However, before they could start the bank, Aston and partners face many issues and solutions: how they raise capital? Who would serve the bank? How will they compete with the big banks that have arisen in connection with deregulation? The decisions that they made at the founding was a strong imprint on TowneBank. This became apparent after ten years, as financial institutions around the country went through a serious crisis, which was caused by exposure to risky mortgages, while TowneBank remained relatively unscathed. However, the management team was to consider several issues, such as the crisis hit. Should they take the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds that the U.S. Treasury has proposed even banks that are unlikely to succeed, and it was adequately capitalized? How could they ensure growth in TowneBank? Should they acquire troubled banks in the local market? "Hide
by Anil Nair, Joseph Trendowski Source: Richard Ivey School of Business Foundation 18 pages. Publication Date: October 11, 2011. Prod. #: W11335-PDF-ENG