Gateway to open banks in Norfolk, Chesapeake

Gateway Bank & Trust Co.’s pursuit of growth shows no sign of slowing.

Gateway executives said Tuesday that the Elizabeth City-based community bank will open branches in the Ghent section of Norfolk and the Greenbrier area of Chesapeake during February as part of its expansion drive. Gateway also plans to open a Williamsburg branch during the second half of next year and a branch in Wilmington, N.C. The bank already has loan production offices in Williamsburg and Wilmington.

Gateway executives said Tuesday they assembled a team of veterans from the former Central Carolina Bank of Raleigh to head Gateway’s push into that market. The bank announced last week that it plans to open as many as six branches in the Raleigh area during the next three years. The first of these is scheduled to open this month.

Gateway said it also created a private-banking division to be based in Raleigh.

Central Carolina Bank had been part of the former National Commerce Financial Corp., a Memphis banking company acquired last year by Atlanta’s SunTrust Banks Inc.

With two-dozen banks competing for more than $13 billion of deposits, the Raleigh area “is a very competitive market, but we’ve invested in people and developed a relationship with this group” of bankers from Central Carolina, said David Twiddy, president of Gateway Bank . At mid-2005, Wachovia Bank dominated Raleigh’s deposit market with a 33 percent share.

Gateway has 18 branches, including nine in southeastern Virginia. At mid year, it had $533 million of deposits, with 37 percent of the total from Hampton Roads, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

The bank’s parent, Gateway Financial Holdings Inc., filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in November, saying it hoped to raise as much as $40.7 million of capital from a public offering of as many as 2.3 million additional shares. Some of the new money , it said, will be used to finance the expansion efforts. The new shares will be priced next Tuesday for the offering, said D. Ben Berry, chairman and chief executive of Gateway Financial and Gateway Bank.

Gateway Financial, which has 7.47 million shares outstanding, asked shareholders last month to approve a proposal to expand the authorized number of shares from 10 million to 20 million. A shareholder meeting for the vote is scheduled for Friday in Virginia Beach.

Gateway’s share price closed Tuesday at $17.04, down 20 cents for the day.

Reach Tom Shean at (757) 446-2379 or tom.shean@pilotonline.com.

What are people saying about mortgages today:

Rates on 30-year mortgages edged down last week to a seven-month low. Mortgage-giant Freddie Mac reported Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages fell to 6.3 percent, down slightly from 6.31 percent two weeks ago. It put rates at the lowest level since they were at 6.24 percent the first week of March.

Bank of Hawaii, Central Pacific Bank, Territorial Savings Bank and Wells Fargo Home Mortgages all cut their 30-year mortgage rates to 5.75 percent this week.

Most people think of a mortgage as a means to an end. After all, you buy a house, not a home loan. But a mortgage is much more than the path to homeownership. It is a financial instrument that must be managed, just like any other financial investment.