But when it comes to providing community-banking level services, it's been a peer for many years. This deal enables Bank of North Carolina to leapfrog into becoming a player in Greensboro with no overlap concerns and without the expense of opening branches there.
This deal gets Bank of North Carolina closer in asset size to some of its $1 billion peers in the Triad.
Southern evidently has decided that it's better to make its own entrance now rather than later.
I think they have kept some of the decision making at the local level. That's always a real critical component to success for a community bank.
