Colonial Bank Teams up with World's Top Retailer to Offer One-Stop Banking and Shopping Convenience.

MONTGOMERY, Ala.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 25, 1995--Colonial Bank announced today an agreement with Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., the national retailer, to place in-store branch facilities in seven of Wal-Mart's Supercenters; six in Alabama and one in southern Tennessee.

The Alabama stores that Colonial Bank offices will be located in are Huntsville, Athens, Oxford, Sylacauga, Prattville, and Alexander City. The Tennessee store is located in Fayetteville, where Colonial currently has two offices. Hailed as a dramatic advance in customer service, the new full-service Colonial Bank offices will offer extended evening and weekend hours and provided a complete range of consumer banking services.

"Supercenter banking has been highly successful in other areas of the south and provides a cost-effective means of expanding a bank's delivery system," said Robert E. Lowder, President and CEO of Colonial Bank. "This is another ground-breaking step for Colonial Bank. Supercenter banking is an excellent opportunity for us to expand the variety of services we offer to better serve our customers -- especially those who tend to shop when banks traditionally are closed."

Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart began building its Supercenter stores in 1988, expanding to more than 175 today. The general merchandise stores contain fully stocked grocery departments within them, giving consumers an incentive to make multiple trips to Wal-Mart Supercenters each week. The high volume of shopper traffic and repeat weekly visits make the Supercenters prime locations in which to operate bank branches.

"From the greeters at the front of our stores to the friendly bankers who talk to shoppers in the aisles, our Supercenters embody service," said a Wal-Mart spokesperson of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. "By giving Wal-Mart shoppers the ability to do their banking with Colonial Bank on the weekends and even after dinner during the week, we hope to make them customers for life. We are looking forward to working together with Colonial Bank to make this in-store service a truly valuable one for our customers."

The Colonial Bank in-store branch will offer Wal-Mart Supercenter shoppers all of the services available at its traditional branch offices: checking and savings accounts; instant access to funds and account information through the Colonial Bank in-store ATM; consumer loans and credit cards; mortgage and home equity loans; and investment products.

Assisting Colonial Bank and Wal-Mart with the new in-store banking program is Atlanta-based International Banking Technologies (IBT), the nations foremost authority on and developer of in-store branching programs. According to IBT, there are currently more than 2,833 in-store branches operating in the U.S.

"Banks that have offered their services at Wal-Mart Supercenters have been overwhelmed by the positive community response," said IBT Executive Vice President John W. Garnett. "The Supercenter stores draw residents who live some 40 or 50 miles away, giving the in-store bank a massive prospect base -- an opportunity that is unheard of with traditional stand-alone branches."

The first branch is scheduled to open in mid-December of this year in the Huntsville Supercenter store. The other six branches are scheduled to open throughout 1996.

Colonial Bank is headquartered in Montgomery, Ala. It has 96 offices throughout Alabama and southern Tennessee. It is currently traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CNB and listed in most newspapers as ColBgp.

CONTACT: Colonial BancGroup, Montgomery

Michelle Condon, 334/240-5586