Davidson County presence felt in ranking for bank deposits in Winston-Salem MSA [Winston-Salem Journal, N.C.]

Oct. 06--BB&T Corp. easily maintained the top market-share position for bank deposits in the Winston-Salem MSA in the past year, a reflection primarily of corporate-investment deposits. But the recent inclusion of Davidson County into the five-county MSA led to a significant shift in position behind BB&T and Wells Fargo & Co.

The 2012-13 data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is through June 30.

Community banks with a large presence in Davidson, such as BNC Bancorp and NewBridge Bancorp, jumped in the ranking for the Winston-Salem metropolitan statistical area.

The data also revealed a 30 percent decline in deposits for Capital Bank Financial Corp. which completed its purchase of Southern Community Financial Corp. in October 2012.

It was the 14th consecutive year that BB&T held the top market share in Davidson, Davie, Forsyth, Stokes and Yadkin. The MSA typically mirrors the deposit levels in Forsyth.

BB&T's market share rose to 79.1 percent from 78.3 percent. Corporate-investment deposits at its downtown headquarters accounted for the bulk of the $30.7 billion in deposits.

BB&T, like most banks, tends to place much of its corporate-investment deposits at its headquarters, which skews the annual Forsyth market-share comparisons. The same scenario held true while Wachovia Corp. was based in Winston-Salem.

BB&T's deposits in Forsyth totaled $30 billion on June 30, of which $28.5 billion was listed at the headquarters branch. That's compared with $28.7 billion on June 30, 2012, of which $27.2 billion was at the headquarters branch.

Cantey Alexander, BB&T's regional president for the Triad, said the bank also gained non-corporate market share in Forsyth and the MSA.

"It was another strong year for deposit growth in the Triad," Alexander said. "We are focused on gaining market share and are as active as ever in making outgoing calls to small businesses to assist them in this challenging economic environment.

"Loan demand remains tepid, but we have been successful in getting loan activity turned into deposit activity, such as checking and savings accounts with households and businesses."

The opposite can be true with corporate-investment deposits, particularly when banks outside the state buy a North Carolina bank.

That factor has affected Wells Fargo's deposits market share in North Carolina since the bank took over Wachovia in late 2008, and PNC Financial Services Group Inc.'s market share since its purchase of RBC Bank in 2012.

Wells Fargo was second in the Winston-Salem MSA at 6.71 percent, up from 6.64 percent in 2011-12 and 15 percent in 2008-09. The BB&T corporate deposit shift overshadowed Wells Fargo's deposits in the county, rising 4.7 percent to $2.61 billion.

"We are pleased that Wells Fargo continues to enjoy a large and stable core deposit base in the Winston-Salem MSA," Wells Fargo spokesman Josh Dunn said.

Dunn said the bank has been successful in providing 6.14 financial products per household account in the MSA, as well as an uptick in consumer checking accounts.

"Our strength, security, conservative financial discipline and commitment to doing what's right for the customer have helped us earn business from new customers and deepen our relationship with our existing ones," Dunn said.

BNC benefitted the most from Davidson being grafted into the Winston-Salem MSA in March.

It went from 11th to third in deposits market share at 2.8 percent after the addition of four Davidson branches to the two the bank has in Forsyth.

In contrast, Piedmont Federal Savings Bank's market share slipped from third to sixth at 1.7 percent and $661.9 million. All of its eight branches in the MSA are in Forsyth.

Capital dropped from fourth to eighth in market share with the 30 percent decline in deposits to $495.3 million. Capital officials could not be reached for comment on whether the bank had shifted some of Southern's corporate-investment deposits away from Winston-Salem.

BB&T slightly increased its second place hold in North Carolina market share at 15.4 percent, up 0.2 percentage points, to $53.7 billion in deposits, up $1.7 billion.

Bank of America Corp., based in Charlotte, remained first in N.C. market share at 48.8 percent, or $169.9 billion in deposits. About $159.9 billion of the bank's deposits are in its headquarters branch at 100 N. Tryon St. in Charlotte.

Wells Fargo was third in the state at 14.8 percent, up 1 percentage point, to $51.6 billion in deposits, up $4.4 billion.

Among community banks serving the Triad and Northwest North Carolina, BNC Bancorp remained ninth with $2.1 billion in deposits. Capital was 10th at $1.98 billion, Yadkin Financial Corp. was 15th at $1.42 billion, NewBridge was 16th with $1.37 billion and Piedmont Federal was 23rd with $709.8 million.

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