Southern Bank will open a branch at 7130 Glen Forest Drive, where it already has a loan office. (BizSense file photo)
A year after making its first-ever push into the Richmond market, Southern Bank is looking to beef up its capabilities here.
The $5 billion institution, which keeps its headquarters in Mount Olive, North Carolina, has applied for regulatory permission to expand its existing loan production office in Henrico’s west end into a full-service branch.
The change would allow the bank to accept deposits at 7130 Glen Forest Drive, where it opened its loan office last July.
John Neal
John Neal, Southern Bank’s Richmond market leader, declined to comment in detail for this story, citing the pending regulatory approval process.
Upon approval, which is expected before the end of the year, the Glen Forest office would be a full-service branch with limited hours to start.
The bank also will look to add to its local ranks once it has full branch capabilities. It has a team of three here, consisting of Neal and two other commercial loan officers.
Southern Bank made its formal entrance into the area in March 2023 by hiring Neal, a Collegiate School and Hampden-Sydney College grad who had come off a nearly five-year stint with South State Bank. Before that, he was with SunTrust and BB&T.
Founded in North Carolina in 1901, Southern Bank expanded into Virginia in 2011 by acquiring the assets of the former Bank of the Commonwealth, which was based in Norfolk and had been shut down by the FDIC in a heap of controversy that sent its CEO to prison.
Through that deal Southern Bank inherited 10 branches in Hampton Roads and several in eastern North Carolina. It has dozens of branches around its home state, mainly east of Raleigh.
In other local banking news, Pennsylvania-based Fulton Bank is planning to relocate its Innsbrook-area branch at 4180 Dominion Blvd. to a former Wells Fargo location at 8215 W. Broad St.
In May, Bank of America closed its longtime downtown branch at 1111 E. Main St., on the ground floor of the office tower that bears its name. However, BofA has a new branch under construction across from Willow Lawn.
Henrico-based Blue Ridge Bank continues a turnaround plan after closing on a $150 million capital raise intended to help it get out from under regulatory scrutiny and deal with problem assets that caused it to stumble over the past two years.
Southern Bank will open a branch at 7130 Glen Forest Drive, where it already has a loan office. (BizSense file photo)
A year after making its first-ever push into the Richmond market, Southern Bank is looking to beef up its capabilities here.
The $5 billion institution, which keeps its headquarters in Mount Olive, North Carolina, has applied for regulatory permission to expand its existing loan production office in Henrico’s west end into a full-service branch.
The change would allow the bank to accept deposits at 7130 Glen Forest Drive, where it opened its loan office last July.
John Neal
John Neal, Southern Bank’s Richmond market leader, declined to comment in detail for this story, citing the pending regulatory approval process.
Upon approval, which is expected before the end of the year, the Glen Forest office would be a full-service branch with limited hours to start.
The bank also will look to add to its local ranks once it has full branch capabilities. It has a team of three here, consisting of Neal and two other commercial loan officers.
Southern Bank made its formal entrance into the area in March 2023 by hiring Neal, a Collegiate School and Hampden-Sydney College grad who had come off a nearly five-year stint with South State Bank. Before that, he was with SunTrust and BB&T.
Founded in North Carolina in 1901, Southern Bank expanded into Virginia in 2011 by acquiring the assets of the former Bank of the Commonwealth, which was based in Norfolk and had been shut down by the FDIC in a heap of controversy that sent its CEO to prison.
Through that deal Southern Bank inherited 10 branches in Hampton Roads and several in eastern North Carolina. It has dozens of branches around its home state, mainly east of Raleigh.
In other local banking news, Pennsylvania-based Fulton Bank is planning to relocate its Innsbrook-area branch at 4180 Dominion Blvd. to a former Wells Fargo location at 8215 W. Broad St.
In May, Bank of America closed its longtime downtown branch at 1111 E. Main St., on the ground floor of the office tower that bears its name. However, BofA has a new branch under construction across from Willow Lawn.
Henrico-based Blue Ridge Bank continues a turnaround plan after closing on a $150 million capital raise intended to help it get out from under regulatory scrutiny and deal with problem assets that caused it to stumble over the past two years.
Southern Bank used to be in Richmond. My first savings account was at their branch on Cary St. back in the 1960’s. If I remember correctly they closed that branch around 1980.