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Five analysts and top management from ten sector firms examine the banking sector in this special 71-page South & SouthEastern Regional Banks issue from The Wall Street Transcript, available at (212/952-7433) or http://www.twst.com/info/info449.htm

TWST: Jeff Harralson, which markets are the most attractive today in this region, and will these markets continue to be the desirable geographic footprints over the next several years?

Mr. Harralson: I think the most attractive markets in the Southeast right now have to be in the state of Texas. Looking at the new environment, post September 11, the growth rate of almost every market I have traveled to has slowed. There are a lot of large, very diverse economies across the Southeast. These economies have had a major shock, and are being put to the test right now. In my opinion, the Houston economy is faring the best.

TWST: Moving on to another topic, if we may, Jefferson Harralson noted that credit quality is the number one issue affecting the industry today. Jefferson, would you like to expand on that?

Mr. Harralson: I would like to follow up on some of Chris’s comments that we’re in a period of significant economic uncertainty. The largest and longest driver of bank valuations over any sort of time period is credit quality. We’ve been in 10 years of outstanding credit quality from most every bank that each of the four of us covers. So credit quality has moved to the back burner a little bit over the last 10 years. Now that we’re having some economic turmoil, the banks that end up having the best credit quality over the next six months to a year are going to be the highest performing stocks out there. I don’t think you can overestimate the importance of strong credit quality right now in the bank stocks.

TWST: Jefferson Harralson, pooling or purchase accounting?

Mr. Harralson: I would also fall on the purchase side of this argument, although when we were talking about pooling versus purchase a year ago, purchase was sold to us as being much less confusing and much more clear-cut than pooling. But the answer is that there are still a lot of questions out there on purchase accounting. How are the intangible assets going to be revalued, how large will the revaluations be, and how are they going to occur? Are they going to cause disruptions in stock prices? But I would agree with Jeff Davis that the offset of that is that you get better historical numbers to look at, and you get more true historical numbers to look at, which I think is an advantage for anybody looking at the stocks.

TWST: Jefferson Harralson, do you have any for the radar screen?

Mr. Harralson: I think that one to keep an eye on is Union Planters Corporation (NYSE:UPC). This is a bank that is improving its fundamentals when a lot of other banks’ fundamentals are not improving. They started a project called UPExcel, which is going to save expenses at the end of 2002 and into 2003. In addition, these guys have a 5% dividend yield and a strong balance sheet to boot.

TWST: One last question, gentlemen. Jefferson Harralson, what’s your reading on the investment sentiment surrounding these stocks today?

Mr. Harralson: I think that the investors are trying to stay as positive as possible on a lot of these companies. They definitely don’t want to miss a rally in these names, but I suspect that they are all reading the same newspapers that the four of us are reading. They know that there is a large risk factor out there in credit quality and are concerned about the near-term credit outlook.

This special issue includes:

1) South & SouthEastern Regional Banks - In an in-depth (14,000 words) Analyst Roundtable, Jeff Davis, Analyst covering regional banks at Midwest Research, Inc., Charles N. Ernst, Vice President at Putnam Lovell Securities, Inc., Jefferson L. Harralson, Vice President at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey Capital Markets and Christopher M. Mutascio, Principal at Legg Mason Wood Walker, Inc., examine the outlook for the sector including investment approach, credit quality and share specific stock recommendations.

2) Regional Bank Stocks - In an in-depth (3,300 words) Analyst Interview, Gary B. Townsend, Senior Analyst at Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co., examines the outlook for the sector and shares specific stock recommendations.

3) The TWST confidential Off-The-Record survey of management performance at thirteen sector firms asked market insiders about the ability of management teams to create shareholder value.

4) CEO interviews (average 2,500 words). Top management of nine sector firms examine the outlook for their firm and the sector.