A recent chain of transactions involving Morehead City-based Sound Bank has freed the bank to become the building block for an entirely new statewide community bank. Sound Bank, which has one office in Wilmington, had become part of Raleigh-based West Town Bancorp Inc. in 2017. West Town announced this week in a news release that it had sold a “substantial portion ...

Attendees at a “fireside chat” Monday afternoon at UNCW’s Cameron School of Business got a peek inside the Federal Reserve. Tom Barkin, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, talked to University of North Carolina Wilmington students, faculty members and members of the public about how he prepared for his current role, how he views it ...

Surveying the damage after Hurricane Florence last September, Indochine owner Solange Thompson found herself with a functional restaurant but severely compromised access to the building. Large fallen trees littered the parking lot and impeded access to the building. She contacted FEMA, and officials there referred her to Thread Capital, a relatively new organization tha ...

Wells Fargo Bank Mortgage in Wilmington has moved to new office space.   The Port City location, formerly at 1131 Military Cutoff Road at the entrance to The Forum, settled into quarters on the second floor of the Wells Fargo Bank building downtown at 300 N. Third St. earlier this month.   "It's nicer, more modern space," branch manager Rhonda W ...

In its first-quarter earnings report Wednesday, Live Oak Bancshares announced net earnings for the quarter of nearly $2.4 million, or 6 cents per diluted share. Those amounts were down significantly from the first quarter of 2018, when the bank holding company reported net earnings of $12.5 million or 30 cents per diluted share. Prior to the report, however, analys ...

As Wall Street anticipates the release Wednesday afternoon of Live Oak Bancshares' first quarter 2019 earnings report, analysts expect the company to report a decline in earnings. Revenues, according to investment research firm Zacks, are expected to be about $43 million, down just over 22% from those of Q1 2018. That level of revenue would equate to earnings per sh ...

Coastal Carolina Curling Club has plans to open its own curling facility in the surrounding Wilmington area as a response to the community's increasing interest in the winter sport. The club has outgrown the Wilmington Ice House, which is where members hold their practices, events and games, said Jason Allen, building committee chair with Coastal Carolina Curli ...

Alliance Credit Union, with branches in Wilmington, has taken on a new name it feels reflects its mission. As of today, the financial institution is now called Excite Credit Union, officials announced. “In 1952, Alliance Credit Union was established with the mission of ‘people helping people,’" the news release stated. “The new name reflects ...

A Louisiana-based wealth management firm has established a new office in Wilmington that includes four former Live Oak Bank employees. Argent Financial Group Inc. recently announced the arrival in Wilmington of Argent Trust Co., saying that it has expanded its funeral and cemetery operation with the new office and the addition of three new members of its staff. Joini ...

Earlier this year, economists at the New York Fed issued an alert: Auto loan delinquencies are seriously on the rise, as increasing numbers of borrowers fall behind on their payments.   Here is what Bankrate, a consumer financial services company, reported Feb. 12: “Some 7 million Americans are 90 days or more behind on their auto loan payments, new data rele ...