Like the tree for which it’s named, Live Oak Bank has spent much of its nearly two decades spreading its roots and canopy wide. Recently, however, it’s also sending roots deeper into its Wilmington soil.
 
The bank’s latest step in cultivating the area market is launching a team of Wilmington-centric commercial bankers who will focus on middle-market lending. Live Oak had a windfall of sorts, hiring three bankers from a financial institution that recently departed the Wilmington market.
 
The Wilmington Commercial Bank team consists of Brad Neigel, Kellie Lewis and Morgan Moskal, all of whom formed the area team for Customers Bank. Neigel was Customers’ regional president of commercial banking for the Carolinas; Lewis was Customers’ commercial relationship manager; and Moskal served as a business development officer for the bank. He now returns to Live Oak Bank, where he spent seven years earlier in his career.

In November, Customers Bank posted a notice at its office in Mayfaire that the Pennsylvania-based bank's loan production office in Wilmington was closing permanently. It had opened its first North Carolina location in Wilmington in the spring of 2022.
 
“My goal, similar to that in prior institutions where I’ve worked, is to launch a commercial community banking team focused on (building) relationships in the greater Wilmington market,” Neigel said Tuesday, adding that the team will target companies with either a physical presence or a project in the area.
 
It’s the next step in a natural progression for Live Oak, Neigel added, even as the bank continues to grow and expand into new industry verticals and be a major provider of SBA, USDA and other government loans.
 
“With Live Oak being one of the major employers in Wilmington, it’s time for us to open our doors and be the local hometown bank,” he said.
 
The team will serve businesses with annual revenues between $2 million and $100 million, connecting them to capital through conventional lending products and offering deposit services. Neigel said his team can also call upon Live Oak’s industry-specific lenders when needed.
 
“If there is an opportunity to partner with those vertical specialists, we are going to do so,” he said. “We are generalists, so we’re going after all business types.
 
“We feel like we’re not a new separate division within Live Oak; we are going to be fully integrated into their ecosystem,” Neigel added. “Our goal is to make every customer we deal with feel like the only customer. Along with technology and innovation and our ability to deliver speed to market, we can get capital to potential borrowers faster. From application to closing, we feel we have an advantage, which customers got to experience (with Live Oak) in the Paycheck Protection Program. We have the ability to understand Wilmington inside out.
 
Neigel compared the launching of this new team to adding a key piece to a jigsaw puzzle, complementing Live Oak’s original nationwide, industry-specific lending, its Channel small business resource in Wilmington and its Small Business Express program.
 
“Our focus is more mid-sized companies with sales in the $1 million to $25 million range and borrowing needs between $2 million and $100 million,” Neigel added. “We’re not necessarily overlapping with Channel or Small Business Express, but we’re enhancing those delivery channels with the ability to provide a single point of contact to larger businesses based in Wilmington. I think it pairs well with the significant economic growth that Wilmington as a whole has experienced, ensuring that emerging and growing businesses have access to capital.”