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BB&T may have been slow to enter Florida but the North Carolina bank is quickly making up for lost time.
After agreeing to buy Republic Bank of St. Petersburg last week, its next acquisition is already lined up.
BB&T chief financial officer Scott Reed told American Banker that the Republic deal would not derail its plan to pursue FloridaFirst Bancorp of Lakeland. BB&T's first run at buying FloridaFirst was scuttled by the Office of Thrift Supervision because the two companies didn't notify the regulators before announcing the deal.
Regulators barred BB&T from pursuing FloridaFirst until the three-year anniversary of the Florida bank's stock conversion. That anniversary date is now just weeks away: Dec. 22.