First Charter Bank

Last updated
First Charter Bank
Company type Public company
Previously Nasdaq:  FCTR
Industry Financial services
PredecessorConcord National Bank
Founded1888 (1888)
FounderDaniel Branson Coltrane
DefunctAugust 16, 2007 (August 16, 2007)
FateAcquired
Successor Fifth Third Bank
Headquarters
Charlotte, North Carolina
,
United States
Area served
North Carolina and Georgia
Products Banking services

First Charter Bank was an American bank headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. From its 1888 founding as Concord National Bank until its 2001 move to Charlotte, the bank was headquartered in Concord, North Carolina and was a subsidiary of First Charter Corporation. The bank became part of Fifth Third Bank in 2008. [1]

Contents

History

Foundation

Textile companies in Concord, North Carolina such as Cannon Mills needed a bank, and while they had the money to start it, they needed someone to run it. Daniel Branson Coltrane, a Confederate veteran who served with J.E.B. Stuart in the Civil War, returned to North Carolina in 1888, and Concord National Bank opened in July [2] as North Carolina's first national bank. [3]

Growth

In 1925, Concord National Bank moved to the newly built Hotel Concord. [4]

Bob Bratton became Chief Financial Officer of Concord National Bank in 1977, serving in that position until 2005. He played a major role in the bank's evolution as it changed its name to First Charter Bank and acquired Bank of Union, Carolina State Bank, Home Federal Savings, Carolina First BancShares, ten insurance agencies and Southeastern Employee Benefit Services. [5]

The bank's operation center located in the former Cabarrus Theater, an art deco building built in 1939. [6]

In 1984, Concord National Bank merged with Citizens National Bank, founded in 1905 and also in Concord. The name change to First Charter, since Concord National was the state's first chartered bank, took place at that time. [3]

On December 1, 1998, First Charter broke ground on a $35 million operations center in the UNC-Charlotte area, intended for as many as 800 employees. The headquarters, however, remained in Concord. [7]

After buying Home Federal Savings in Charlotte, First Charter renamed that bank's seven-story building but later moved its branch across the street to the Johnston Building. The Home Savings building closed but later reopened with new owners. [8]

In a deal valued at $260 million, on November 8, 1999, First Charter Corporation agreed to buy Carolina First BancShares of Lincolnton, North Carolina, owner of Lincoln Bank of North Carolina, Cabarrus Bank of North Carolina and Community Bank and Trust, with assets of $774 million and 31 offices. [9]

First Charter began moving to its new $40 million University Research Park headquarters in February 2001. [10]

In January 2006, First Charter opened three branches, its first in the North Carolina's Triangle, in former SouthTrust locations closed after that bank's purchase by Wachovia. Also, First Charter planned 24 ATMs in Food Lion grocery stores. By 2010, First Charter hoped to have 10 Triangle branches. [11]

Acquired

On August 16, 2007, Fifth Third Bank announced its purchase of First Charter. [12] First Charter had deposits of $3.2 billion and assets of $4.8 billion, [13] with 60 branches, four insurance offices and 137 automated-teller machines in North Carolina and Georgia, as well as loan offices in Asheville, N.C., and Reston, Va. [14] The $1.1 billion deal gave Fifth Third a major presence in the Southeastern United States, adding to its Georgia branches and giving it an entry into the Charlotte market and the Carolinas. [15] The deal closed in June 2008. [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bank of America</span> American multinational banking and financial services corporation

The Bank of America Corporation is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, with investment banking and auxiliary headquarters in Manhattan. The bank was founded by the merger of NationsBank and Bank of America in 1998. It is the second-largest banking institution in the United States and the second-largest bank in the world by market capitalization, both after JPMorgan Chase. Bank of America is one of the Big Four banking institutions of the United States. It serves about 10 percent of all American bank deposits, in direct competition with JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo. Its primary financial services revolve around commercial banking, wealth management, and investment banking.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bank One Corporation</span> Former bank of the United States

Bank One Corporation was an American bank founded in 1968 and at its peak the sixth-largest bank in the United States. It traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock symbol ONE. The company merged with JPMorgan Chase & Co. on July 1, 2004, with Bank One CEO Jamie Dimon soon becoming CEO and Chairman of the combined company but under JPMorgan Chase branding. The company had its headquarters in the Bank One Plaza in the Chicago Loop in Chicago, Illinois, now the headquarters of Chase's retail banking division.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">U.S. Bancorp</span> American bank holding company

U.S. Bancorp is an American multinational financial services firm headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota and incorporated in Delaware. It is the 7th-largest bank in the United States as of 2024. As the largest bank in the Midwestern United States, it is considered systemically important by the Financial Stability Board. It is the parent company of its primary operating entity, U.S. Bank National Association, which does business as U.S. Bank. The company provides banking, investment, mortgage, trust, and payment services products to individuals, businesses, governmental entities, and other financial institutions.

NationsBank was one of the largest banking corporations in the United States, based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company named NationsBank was formed through the merger of several other banks in 1991, and prior to that had been through multiple iterations. Its oldest predecessor companies had been Commercial National Bank (CNB), formed in 1874, and American Trust Company founded in 1909. In 1998, NationsBank acquired BankAmerica, and modified that better-known name to become Bank of America Corporation. The CEO of NationsBank throughout its entire existence was Hugh McColl, who led the merger with BankAmerica and became the first CEO of the present-day Bank of America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PNC Financial Services</span> Major bank based in Pittsburgh

The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. is an American bank holding company and financial services corporation based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Its banking subsidiary, PNC Bank, operates in 27 states and the District of Columbia, with 2,629 branches and 9,523 ATMs. PNC Bank is on the list of largest banks in the United States by assets and is one of the largest banks by number of branches, deposits, and number of ATMs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Truist Financial</span> Banking company in the U.S.

Truist Financial Corporation is an American bank holding company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company was formed in December 2019 as the result of the merger of BB&T and SunTrust Banks. Its bank operates 2,781 branches in 15 states and Washington, D.C., offering consumer and commercial banking, securities brokerage, asset management, mortgage, and insurance products and services. It is on the list of largest banks in the United States by assets; as of August 2023, it is the ninth-largest bank, with $514 billion in assets.

First Niagara Bank was a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation-insured regional banking corporation headquartered in Buffalo, New York. Its parent company, First Niagara Financial Group, Inc. was the 44th-largest bank in the United States with assets of over $37.1 billion as of June 30, 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Bancorp</span> American bank based in North Carolina

First Bancorp is an American bank holding company headquartered in Southern Pines, North Carolina, that operates as First Bank in North Carolina and South Carolina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wachovia</span> Defunct banking company

Wachovia was a diversified financial services company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Before its acquisition by Wells Fargo and Company in 2008, Wachovia was the fourth-largest bank holding company in the United States, based on total assets. Wachovia provided a broad range of banking, asset management, wealth management, and corporate and investment banking products and services. At its height, it was one of the largest providers of financial services in the United States, operating financial centers in 21 states and Washington, D.C., with locations from Connecticut to Florida and west to California. Wachovia provided global services through more than 40 offices around the world.

Bank United Corporation, headquartered in Houston, Texas, was a broad-based financial services provider and the largest publicly traded depository institution headquartered in Texas before its merger with Washington Mutual in 2001. Bank United Corp. conducted its business through its wholly owned subsidiary, Bank United, a federally chartered savings bank. The company operated a 155-branch community banking network in Texas, including 77 in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, 66 in the greater Houston area, five in Midland, four in Austin, and three in San Antonio; operated 19 SBA lending offices in 14 states; was a national middle market commercial bank with 23 regional offices in 16 states; originated mortgage loans through 11 wholesale offices in 10 states; operated a national mortgage servicing business serving approximately 324,000 customers, and managed an investment portfolio. As of June 30, 2000, Bank United Corp. had assets of $18.2 billion, deposits of $8.8 billion, and stockholder's equity of $823 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital Bank Financial</span> Former American bank

Capital Bank Financial Corporation was a bank holding company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina with $10 billion in assets as of first quarter 2017 and 193 branches. Former Bank of America vice chairman Gene Taylor was chief executive, former Bank of America executive and Fifth Third Bank CFO, Chris Marshall was CFO and former Bank of America executive, R. Bruce Singletary was Chief Risk Officer. Former Morgan Stanley specialty finance research analyst, Kenneth Posner, managed corporate strategy and investor relations. North American Financial Holdings (NAFH) original purpose was to take over banks that had difficulties due to the financial crisis of 2007–2010. The company's main interest was banks in the Carolinas and Florida, but in 2011, NAFH moved into Tennessee and Virginia. Despite buying seven distressed, money losing banks, NAFH's Capital Bank was consistently profitable during the duration of its existence and consistently posted improved returns for each of its five years of operations. Capital Bank completed a successful IPO in September 2012, and used to trade on the NASDAQ under the ticker CBF until its acquisition by First Horizon National Corporation in December 2017.

United Carolina Bank (UCB) was a bank headquartered in Whiteville, North Carolina. It was formed in 1980 by the merger of four banks, including Waccamaw Bank of Whiteville. BB&T (now Truist Financial) acquired UCB in 1997.

Southern National Bank was a bank headquartered first in Lumberton, North Carolina and then in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It joined with BB&T in 1995.

Centura Bank was an American bank headquartered in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. It existed from 1990, when Peoples Bancorp and Planters Bank merged, to 2001, when the Royal Bank of Canada acquired the company and changed its name to RBC Centura.

BNC Bank was a bank based in High Point, North Carolina, United States. In 2014 its parent company BNC Bancorp had $4.05 billion in assets, 38 branches in North Carolina and 13 in South Carolina. Its latest acquisition gave BNC $6.8 billion in assets and 87 branches, 48 in North Carolina, 29 in South Carolina nine in Virginia, and one in Haiti.

Park Sterling Bank, was a bank based in Charlotte, North Carolina. It had $3.3 billion in assets and branches in North and South Carolina, Virginia and Georgia. The parent company was Park Sterling Corp.. A merger with South State Bank was completed November 30, 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HomeTrust Bancshares</span> North Carolina-based bank holding company

HomeTrust Bancshares Inc. is an Asheville, North Carolina–based bank holding company with $4.3 billion in assets and 33 branches in North and South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee. It is the parent of seven community banks—HomeTrust Bank, Tryon Federal Bank, Shelby Savings Bank, Home Savings Bank, Industrial Federal Bank, Cherryville Federal Bank and Rutherford County Bank.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bank OZK</span> Regional bank headquartered in Little Rock

Bank OZK is an American regional bank established in 1903. Bank OZK conducts banking operations with over 240 offices in eight states including Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, Texas, California, Tennessee and Mississippi and had $37.44 billion in total assets as of September 30, 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Star Banc Corporation</span>

Star Banc Corporation was a Cincinnati, Ohio-based regional bank holding company that acquired Firstar in 1998 and took the Firstar name; the merged bank acquired U.S. Bancorp in 2001 and took the U.S. Bancorp name. The company can trace its origins back to 1863 when it was first founded as the First National Bank of Cincinnati.

Hotel Concord at Union Street N. and Cabarrus Avenue in Concord, North Carolina was completed in 1926 and is a contributing structure to the Union Street North–Cabarrus Avenue Commercial Historic District.

References

  1. ↑ "First Charter Bank -Company Profile on LinkedIn" . Retrieved 2010-05-10.
  2. ↑ Horton Jr., Clarence. "Concord: A Bicentennial Sketch" (PDF). Retrieved 2010-05-10.
  3. 1 2 Herndon, Ed (1992-01-19). "Traditional banks give birth to S&Ls". Concord Tribune .
  4. ↑ "Concord Historic Walking Tour". Concord Downtown Development Corp. Retrieved 2010-05-10.[ permanent dead link ]
  5. ↑ "First Charter Announces Change in Chief Financial Officer". Carolina Newswire. 2005-02-02. Archived from the original on July 8, 2011. Retrieved 2010-05-10.
  6. ↑ "22 Union Street, North". Concord Downtown Development Corporation. Retrieved 2017-05-04.
  7. ↑ Amber Veverka, "First Charter to Move Office Center Near UNCC," The Charlotte Observer, December 1, 1998.
  8. ↑ Doug Smith, "Uptown Bank Building to Open Afresh," The Charlotte Observer, December 8, 2000.
  9. ↑ "First Charter Adding Carolina First Bancshares". The New York Times . 1999-11-09. Retrieved 2010-05-10.
  10. ↑ Doug Smith, "First Charter Lets in Light at Its New Headquarters," The Charlotte Observer, February 6, 2001.
  11. ↑ Norton, Frank (2005-11-15). "First Charter Bank plans branches, ATMs in Raleigh, N.C., area". News & Observer .
  12. ↑ McLaughlin, Tim (2007-08-16). "Fifth Third to buy First Charter". Reuters . Retrieved 2010-05-10.
  13. 1 2 "Fifth Third Bank closes First Charter deal, enters North Carolina". Pittsburgh Business Times . 2008-06-09. Retrieved 2010-05-10.
  14. ↑ "Fed Approves Fifth Third's First Charter Buyout". Dayton Business Journal . 2008-04-16. Retrieved 2010-05-10.
  15. ↑ Boye, Will (2007-08-31). "First Charter buy gives Fifth Third hold in South". Business Courier of Cincinnati. Retrieved 2010-05-10.

________________________ ________________________

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.