Small businesses seem to be optimistic about their opportunities for growth, even while they view the economy as lackluster.   That’s one of the most striking results of a Voice of the Customer survey of its borrowers Live Oak Bank commissioned this past fall.   “Customers are positive about their financial position, with the majority anticipating ...

Like every other aspect of banking, mortgage lending continues to change as technology streamlines processes and gives would-be borrowers access to more lender options. “The mortgage industry over time has evolved to be more automated,” said Chris Turner, a mortgage originator in Wrightsville Beach for Northpointe Bank. “I have been licensed in several ...

A new home-grown financial technology company has sprung up in Wilmington.   Lumos Technologies Inc. provides data insights and analytics as a service, with a focus on improving small business access to financing, said Brett Caines, one of Lumos’ three founders.   The fledgling company’s target customer base is made up of financial institutions th ...

Several of Live Oak Bancshares’ key indicators slid during the fourth quarter of its recently ended fiscal year, but overall, the company showed growth across the board during its 2022 fiscal year, which ended Dec. 31, 2022. That’s according to Live Oak’s earnings report released Wednesday.   The company, parent of Live Oak Bank, saw its total four ...

Fintech firm nCino has announced a 7% reduction in its workforce, with plans to trim nearly 120 employees from its roster.  Headquartered in Wilmington, the software-as-a-service firm has about 1,700 employees among its nine locations across the globe.  CEO Pierre Naudé informed the workforce of the executive leadership team’s decision Wednesda ...

Bankers and financial advisers may have slightly different perspectives on what 2023 may bring, but taken together, they paint a diverse picture of what could happen with money matters in the new year.   As we enter the new year, banks are adjusting to the historically rapid rise in the Federal Reserve’s key interest rate, said Peter Gwaltney, president and CE ...

Earlier this month, PBMares LLP officially acquired RSM US LLP’s local Wilmington accounting office.  With a staff of 30, including 13 certified public accountants, the firm is the second-largest in the Wilmington region, according to recent Greater Wilmington Business Journal survey results.  The Wilmington office is PBMares’ 13th overall and t ...

Live Oak Bancshares, parent of Wilmington-based Live Oak Bank, announced Friday morning that it is changing its stock trading partner. The company, which has traded its voting common stock on the Nasdaq since it went public in July 2015, will transfer the listing of that stock to the New York Stock Exchange beginning Dec. 14 of this year. Live Oak Bancshares wil ...

In June, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based F.N.B. Corp., with three First National Bank (FNB) branches in the Wilmington market, announced the signing of a merger agreement with UB Bancorp.    UB, headquartered in Greenville, North Carolina, has one Wilmington location of its subsidiary, Union Bank. At the time, FNB officials stated an expected end-of-year complet ...

nCino touted its growing revenues during the company’s third-quarter earnings call Wednesday afternoon. Company Chairman and CEO Pierre Naudé noted that nCino, the cloud-based digital systems provider for the financial industry, generated $105.3 million in total revenues for the third quarter of FY 23, which ended Oct. 31. This amount represented a 50% incr ...