®
oundtable:
Community-minded Leading community and regional banking leaders provide their perspective on the challenges ahead and advantages they offer clients.
Travis Bailey
Regional Executive & Senior Vice President First Bank
How important is the Triangle region in your overall North Carolina operations? Over the last three years, First Bank has focused on growing intentionally and organically in the Triangle. For example, since 2019, we’ve seen a 100% increase in assets held here. Through the pandemic, we’ve continued that growth by another 40%, which is significant. With the opening of our new regional headquarters on Six Forks Road, Raleigh is now the largest branch in the First Bank network. That reflects First Bank’s commitment to this area. As a community bank, what steps have you taken to provide for small businesses throughout the pandemic? Our main concern was to help our clients get through whatever might be thrown at them throughout the pandemic. Our goal is and was to give our customers continued confidence by providing the support and tools they need. This parallels the support First Bank has given to employees across the bank’s footprint—that the bank was going to be there with them and their families throughout this difficult and uncertain time. What is your outlook for the banking sector in the Triangle region? We’re going to exceed expectations. We have a strong pipeline for loans and deposits and there’s a lot of appetite in the market for what First Bank has to offer—a personal touch, customized and flexible options, competitive rates and, as cheesy as it might sound, someone who actually cares about each business customer they serve. That looks like the boutique, private banking-type model that we can bring to the Triangle market. 116
| Invest: Raleigh-Durham 2021 | BANKING & FINANCE
Laura Bunn
Triangle Market President First Horizon
What are the benefits of your merger with IBERIABANK and the acquisition of the SunTrust branches? These two developments help us in two ways. One, with a strong delivery system in the Triangle market and, second, the merger with IBERIABANK will bolster the ability to invest in solutions to support our customers. Acquisition of the branches improves our ability to serve customers and the community throughout the Triangle. From our perspective, these acquisitions accelerated the growth plans that we have for the Triangle. As the Triangle grows, businesses and residents will prosper. First Horizon has the opportunity to acquire new customers and support the community as part of this growth. How did First Horizon deal with the onslaught of PPP loans in the Triangle market? First, we repurposed our Triangle team, with each team member having a clearly defined role in the PPP process. Many of our team members worked around the clock to secure much needed funding for the businesses in our community. The total PPP loans for the mid-Atlantic region in the first round totaled $336 million. The Triangle closed over 1,200 applications in the first round of funding. Reflecting on what we accomplished through the PPP process, it gave businesses the resources to manage the pandemic-related uncertainty as many people did not know what to expect. Second, it demonstrated that financial institutions can adapt quickly, as banks repurposed teams to serve as the conduit between the borrowers and the Small Business Administration on a large scale.
