Laffitte Honored as SCBA Outstanding Young Banker for 2015

COLUMBIA, S.C. – R. Montague Laffitte III, South State Bank’s central South Carolina region president, was named the South Carolina Bankers Association’s Outstanding Young Banker for 2015 at the SCBA Annual Meeting, held earlier this month in Charleston.

 

The Outstanding Young Banker Award is the highest honor presented in South Carolina’s banking industry. It is chosen by the SCBA Past Chairman’s Club and has been given to one deserving banker each year since 1970. Past recipients include many prominent South Carolina bankers.

 

“Montague is very deserving of this honor and I could not be more proud of him. His leadership has had a significant impact at South State. He is an excellent banker and an even finer person,” said Robert R. Hill, Jr., chief executive officer of South State Bank. “We are fortunate to have Montague on the South State team.”

 

Laffitte, 37, follows on the heels of last year’s honoree, Kevin W. Lindler, senior vice president and Metro Columbia market executive for First Citizens Bank.

 

Laffitte said it was a humbling experience to be named the SCBA’s Outstanding Young Banker.

 

“If you go through the list of former Young Banker winners, it is full of not only well-accomplished bankers but really great people,” he said. “One of those award winners is my uncle Sterling, who I greatly admired. In addition to being a great friend and supporter, he often provided me insight and guidance to the banking industry. He was a great family man and a wonderful role model for me. So for me to share the same award as Sterling did 20 years ago was incredibly touching.”

 

Montague Laffitte is a 2000 graduate of Wofford College and earned an MBA from the Moore School of Business in 2002. He joined Columbia-based South State Bank in 2002.

 

With South State, Laffitte is responsible for the commercial, private bank and retail operations across the company’s Lexington, Columbia and Florence markets.

 

Laffitte is the former chairman of the Young Bankers Division of the South Carolina Bankers Association. He currently serves on the Ray Tanner Foundation Board, the Providence Hospital Development Foundation Board and is chairman of Shandon United Methodist Church Council.

 

Laffitte and his wife Lauren have three children: sons Monty and McNeill; and daughter Bell.

 

The South Carolina Bankers Association is the trade and professional association representing more than 80 financial institutions across the state. The SCBA is organized to effectively represent the common interest and welfare of South Carolina’s banking industry and to promote the professional development of its members and individual practitioners. The SCBA’s mission is to provide legislative, regulatory, educational and product leadership on behalf of its members.

 

For more information about the SCBA please visit scbankers.org.

 

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