It’s likely that when First National Bank announced it had made a short list of “standout” commercial banks for its commitment to ESG, some had to type “ESG” into their computer search engines, looking for a definition.   But companies operating globally, as well as large U.S. corporations and credit rating agencies, have had environmen ...

An investment by Canapi Ventures is increasing the capacity of a tech startup to serve commercial lenders. Canapi led the recent Series A capital raise by San Francisco-based Able, a 2-year-old company that has built a system to speed up the processing of documents and other data required for commercial loans.   Canapi’s share of the $20 million total was not ...

Perhaps, when Shakespeare wrote, “The course of true love never did run smooth,” he should have substituted the word “cost” for the word “course.” After delaying the wedding of their dreams because of COVID-19 restrictions, many couples – and their families – are discovering that supply chain and labor issues, fueling inflati ...

With better than 50% year-over-year increases in both total revenues and in subscription revenues, nCino officials remain firmly convinced the company will become revenue-positive in 2024.   Speaking at the company’s first-quarter of fiscal year 2023 earnings call Wednesday, nCino CEO Pierre Naudé said the company had experienced a “solid start to ...

When Art and Robin Hill started their Panacea Brewing Co. in 2016, it started as a hobby. The Hills never guessed that just six years later they would have a storefront restaurant in a busy Wilmington shopping center and a flourishing brewing company to go with it. “What we have is definitely not what the plan was,” said Robin Hill. Hill says she and her ...

A federal judge formally dismissed a class-action lawsuit filed against Live Oak and Apiture last week after approving the companies’ settlement agreement with a former employee.  The companies agreed to pay a combined $4.65 million, which will be shared among 1,925 class members to settle their liabilities in the case.  Meanwhile, the case again ...

The income from the recent sale of its interest in financial technology firm Finxact presents a variety of opportunities for Live Oak Bancshares.   The company will realize about $120 million from Fiserv’s acquisition of all Finxact shares; it plans to leverage that capital in key areas, ranging from balance sheet enhancement to community support to strategic ...

First National Bank has earned yet another banking accolade, its parent FNB Corp. announced last month. For a second consecutive year, First National Bank, which operates three locations in the Wilmington market, has been ranked by Forbes as one of the World’s Best Banks.   The 2022 list, based solely on consumer feedback, includes only 75 banks in the U.S. an ...

First Carolina Bank, which operates one full-service office in Wilmington, has landed on the list of the 100 best-performing community banks in the country. The bank, which ranked 31st, is the only North Carolina-based institution on the list.   S&P Global Market Intelligence, which researched and compiled the data, defines community banks as those with less tha ...

Live Oak Bancshares’ first-quarter earnings report showed better results than some analysts had expected. The company, the parent of Live Oak Bank, reported net income of $34.5 million for Q1 of the company’s 2022 fiscal year. That translates to $0.76 per diluted share. “The beginning of 2022 provided continued indications that the small business marke ...