Six Mile Getting New Bank?

When officials in Six Mile learned that the First Citizens Bank branch would close in April 2013, they were worried about the impact the closure of the town's only bank would have, especially on businesses and Six Mile's older residents.

On Friday, Carolina Premier Bank, a North Carolina state chartered bank and wholly owned banking subsidiary of Premara Financial, Inc.,and the town council of Six Mile announced plans for creation of a rural banking concept in the town.

The First Citizens' branch closure left the town without a bank for the first time since 1919.

Local residents and businesses currently have to drive round trip about 45 minutes to find an ATM or bank branch, according to a release.

A delegation of town officials, led Atkinson, Town Councilman, had heard of Carolina Premier Bank’s vision to bring banking services back to rural markets that are underserved or had lost their banking branches due to regional and national bank consolidations, the release said.

“When we contacted John S. Kreighbaum, President and CEO, of the bank, he exhibited a clear understanding of the importance of access to banking for rural communities,” Atkinson said. “He talked a lot about the need for focus on rural and underserved markets relative to banking services. We seemed to immediately share a philosophical common bond and here we are today.”

While many are moving to computerized banking options, those options aren't available for everyone.

“Notwithstanding the advent of modern technology, our research on rural banking suggests that while more and more people have access to online systems that allow them to conduct certain types of banking without a nearby branch, this technology is not available or adopted by everyone with demand for rural banking still high in many areas,” said John S. Kreighbaum, president and CEO of Carolina Premier Bank.

Working in collaboration with town officials, the bank has invested considerable time in studying the feasibility for opening in Six Mile.

“We made the final decision to move forward with the office following a meeting with members of the business community in an open forum,” said Kreighbaum. “We were astounded by the pride and passion for a bank. The emotion and support for banking by this group affirmed that the rural banking concept we have been working on for about two years had finally found a perfect beta site. We are very concerned that we have arrived at a time when banking services are being withdrawn by major banks to consolidate services or move out of rural areas completely.” 

According to Six Mile Mayor Roy C. Stoddard, “the strategic relationship and collaboration with Carolina Premier Bank can be viewed as the textbook case ‘win/win’in providing appropriate banking services to our town”. The bank branch will operate under a trade-name called OUR BANK, a division of Carolina Premier Bank. The creating of the trade name branch bank in Six Mile is subject to regulatory comment and approval by the North Carolina Commissioner of Banks and the FDIC. Once approved, the bank will be located in the former First Citizens Bank office at 115 N. Main Street.

Carolina Premier Bank was chartered in 2007 and is headquartered in Charlotte.

It serves personal and small business customers throughout the Charlotte region with offices in both North and South Carolina. It is FDIC insured and a member of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta.