It was the primary subsidiary of Sovran Financial Corporation, a bank holding company.

It was formed from the 1983 merger of First & Merchants Bank of and Virginia National Bankshares, both of which could trace back their history to the 1860s.

The name Sovran came from Glenn Monigle & Associates as a simple spelling of "sovereign".

Eight days after the surrender of Robert E. Lee after the Battle of Appomattox Court House, the city's financial leaders started a new federally chartered bank.

[3] Alfred Charles Bossom of Clinton & Russell in New York City designed the First National Bank Building, the first skyscraper in Richmond, at 9th and Main streets, completed in 1913.

The Virginia Trust Company building, also designed by Bossom, opened May 31, 1921, was an example of Neoclassical architecture, using granite, marble, bronze and mahogany, with a "gilded, coffered ceiling" and "a facade patterned directly after a Roman triumphal arch."

In 1986, Sovran acquired D.C. National Bancorp, based in Bethesda, Maryland, for $64.5 million in stock.

In 1991, after suffering losses during the early 1990s recession, the bank was acquired by NCNB for $4.3 billion in stock.