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Wilmington, NC 28401
Phone: (910) 343-8600
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Greater Wilmington Business Journal is available at all Port City Java locations or by subscription for $44 a year. Call 343-8600, ext. 201.
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© 2008, SAJ Media LLC
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Banks, mortgage companies continue to expand in area
The greater Wilmington banking
and finance market continues to
grow, this time with a residential
mortgage specialist company.
Cunningham & Company Mortgage
Bankers is opening new mortgage
offices in the Port City and in
Leland.
Patrick Moore has been named as
the company’s greater Wilmington
branch manager, and Bill Calder will
join Cunningham & Company as
sales manager of the Leland location.
Company officials said the expansion
will allow the company to establish
a significant market presence in
the greater Wilmington area and
solidify its position as one of the
largest independent mortgage
lenders in the Carolinas.
“By combining the forces of our
experienced support staff with
Moore’s and Calder’s local market
expertise and trusted reputation,
we’re positioned to expand on the
success that our new team has
already established in Wilmington,”
said Hank Cunningham, president of
Cunningham & Company.
Given the recent unrest in the
market, some eyebrows may rise
regarding the mortgage company’s
expansion efforts, but the
Wilmington market manager taking
advantage of the overall market turmoil
just makes sense.
“This is still a viable realty and
housing market with a good industry
base,” said Moore, a veteran of the
local mortgage industry since 1985.
“We’ve just gone from a remarkable
market where homes sold the minute
they went on the market to a typical
market.”
Moore added that while some of
the negative market news is warranted
on a sub-prime basis, if individuals
are getting a VA, FHA or conventional
mortgage – the latter
backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac – there’s not necessarily a credit
crisis.
“So it’s not a bad time for us to
grow,” Moore said. “New Hanover
and Brunswick counties are still a
growth market.”
Additionally, he noted the offices
weren’t opened merely for the sake
of coming to Wilmington.
“[Cunningham and Company]
was able to acquire the people they
could, picking up an established
company already known in the market,”
he said.
The company also has loan centers
located in Greensboro, Wake
Forest, Asheville, Charlotte,
Cornelius, Concord, Gastonia and
Hilton Head. Cunningham &
Company Mortgage Bankers opened
its doors in Greensboro in 1990.
Gateway Bank, headquartered in
Virginia Beach, Va., also has
expanded its presence in the
Wilmington market. The company
held a ribbon cutting ceremony in
late March for the opening of its
full-service financial center located
at 901 Military Cutoff Rd., across
from Mayfaire Town Center.
“With the growth potential of
Wilmington and the surrounding
area, our board saw it as a good way
to go,” said Wilmington market
manager Eric Hickman, regarding
the expansion. “As operations grow
here, we’re looking to add other
[area] locations in the future.”
The Wilmington branch, which
has 12 employees, actually opened in
November 2007 and the company
opened a loan production office here
in March 2005.
“The Wilmington branch has
done very well against our goals,”
Hickman noted.
Gateway Bank has 35 branches in
cities including Greenville, Raleigh
and Chapel Hill, as well as throughout
Virginia.
Dividends declared
ECB Bancorp Inc. the parent
holding company of the East
Carolina Bank, declared a quarterly
cash dividend of $0.1825 per share
in mid-March, payable April 14 to
shareholders of record on April 1.
On an annualized basis, the corporation’s
2008 dividend of $0.73
per share represents a 4.3 percent
increase over the annual dividend in
2007 of $0.70 per share.
The bank has 23 branches, including
those located in Ocean Isle
Beach and Greenville. A full-service
branch is currently under construction
in Leland.
First Bancorp, the parent company
of First Bank, has declared a cash
dividend of 19 cents per share
payable April 25, to shareholders of
record as of March 31.
First
Bancorp is based in Troy, N.C., with
total assets of approximately $2.3
billion. First Bank operates 70
branch offices, including those in
Wilmington and Leland, plus
branches in South Carolina and
Virginia.
New and notable
Stephanie Konny has joined
IronGate Partners as their new director
of first impressions. Konny is a
2005 graduate from the University of
Kentucky.
“The director of first impressions
is IronGate Partners’ key director of
all client concierge services,” said
partner Chris Jones. “IronGate takes
a very hands-on, almost familial,
relationship with our wealth management
clients, and the director of
first impressions is the catalyst to
this mission. We rely on this person
to really set the tone and atmosphere
of the IGP experience.”
Additionally, IronGate Partners
announced that Jones and David
Hartness were included in the
Consumers’ Research Council of
America “Guide to America’s Top
Financial Planners” 2008 Edition.
Jones and Hartness were awarded
the distinction based on education,
years in practice and affiliations with
professional associations and organizations.
This marks the second time
Jones has received the award.
UBOA site helps
small businesses
Bank of America debuted a
unique Web site at the end of 2007, with expert advice, discussion boards
and networking tools to help small
businesses grow, without a bombardment
of marketing.
“The Small Business Online
Community is a great way for small
business owners to network and
learn from one another,” said Tom
Dodson, Wilmington president of
Bank of America. “I encourage our
local small businesses to explore the
site, ask questions and gain insight
that will allow them to further succeed.”
The site is open to all small
business owners, regardless of their
customer affiliation with BOA at
www.bankofamerica.com/sbcommunity.
Mortgages going green
Going green is becoming easier as
the options to do so increase. Sun
Trust Mortgage offers a green, or
energy efficient, mortgage through
the Fannie Mae, FHA and VA programs,
allowing individuals to
upgrade their home’s energy efficiency
and finance the cost.
“If you express an interest in an
energy efficient mortgage, part of
my pledge is that I triple check all
information before printing, and I’ll
email the customer versus faxing
back and forth in order to conserve
paper,” said Sun Trust mortgage
planner Steve Rassin. “Additionally,
we recycle all our paper, thereby saving
energy and [environmental
resources].”
Sun Trust’s energy efficient mortgages
are available for new construction
or existing properties.
Cape Fear Bank’s revenue
up, net income down
Cape Fear Bank filed its annual
report with the Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC) on
April 3. The total assets for the
bank in 2007 were $464.3 million,
an increase of $39.4 million over
2006. Cape Fear Bank’s total revenue
for 2007 was $33.5 million,
which was an increase over the
$29.3 million total for 2006.
However, the net income from
continuing operations was lower in
2007 at $1.3 million, a decrease of
40.8 percent from $2.3 million in
2006. All four quarters of 2007
were lower than 2006, including a
$53,000 2007 fourth quarter, compared
to $588,000 in fourth quarter
2006.
Cameron Coburn, CEO of Cape
Fear Bank, has blamed the bank’s
lower earnings on the bank’s branch
expansions.
Koury names proposed
board of directors
Burlington businessman Maurice
Koury, who made an offer for Cape
Fear Bank and later withdrew it, has
nominated an alternative slate of
directors for the board.
Koury’s nominees
include Scott Sullivan, a manager
at Wilmington-based Cameron
Management; Milt Petty, the CFO of
Carolina Hosiery Mills of
Burlington, the company started by
Koury; Mort Neblett, the managing
member of Owencroft Financial
Partners, a Wilmington investment
management firm; Haywood
Cochrane, the vice-chairman of ITrax,
Inc., and a resident of Figure
Eight Island, James Mahan, the CEO
of Live Oak Banking Co., a
Wilmington niche banking lender,
David Lucht, the President of Live
Oak Banking Co., and Robert Isser,
the executive vice-president of Sidney
Gilbert & Co., a Charlotte yarn company.
Koury filed his list with the
SEC on March 27.
Send items for the Banking & Finance column to banking@wilmingtonbiz.com or130 N. Front St., Suite
105, Wilmington, NC 28401.
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