Gula Named Chief Operations Officer of Synovus

July 11, 2011, Columbus, GA– Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE - “SNV”), the Columbus, Georgia-based financial services company, today announced that Allen J. Gula, Jr. has been named Chief Operations Officer. The appointment is effective immediately.

“We are pleased to have a leader with Al’s experience and reputation join our company at this important time,” said Kessel D. Stelling, President and CEO of Synovus. “His diverse background and broad perspective of the financial services industry will be invaluable to our company as we continue to become a more efficient, value-generating company that is committed to relationship-based banking.”

Gula will be responsible for all operations and information technology for Synovus. He is an accomplished banking professional, with more than 30 years of experience in the United States and global financial services industry. He has held executive positions in e-commerce, payment solutions, technology, operations and strategic business planning. He previously served as a senior executive at Greater Bay Bancorp in San Francisco and as Co-President at Franklin Resources, a $750 billion global asset management company headquartered in San Mateo, California. Gula’s career also includes his work as Executive Vice President at KeyCorp, Chairman and CEO of Key Services, and as a board member at KeyBank North America, MasterCard USA and Inktomi. He holds a Masters in Business Administration degree from Case Western Reserve University. Gula also served on the President’s Visiting Committee of the Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University.

Together with his late wife, Marilyn, he founded the Marilyn B. Gula Mountains of Hope Foundation, which is dedicated to funding the diagnosis and treatment of advanced breast cancer research. He currently serves as Chairman and CEO of the foundation.

About Synovus

Synovus is a financial services company with $29 billion in assets based in Columbus, Georgia. Synovus’ bank divisions provide commercial and retail banking, investment and mortgage services to customers in Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, Florida and Tennessee. See Synovus on the web athttp://www.synovus.com.