| State grants charter to Greensboro business bank
Greensboro is a step closer to getting its first business-only bank. The North Carolina Banking Commission has granted a charter to Premier Commercial Bank, a startup lender for small and medium-sized businesses. The bank said it expects to open in early 2008. Premier was founded by Frank Gavigan, a longtime Triad banker who was most recently senior credit officer at 1st State Bank in Burlington. It's joining a space that's become increasingly crowded in North Carolina since Raleigh's Paragon Commercial Bank became the state's first business-only bank in 1999. The Triad has yet to get in on the action, however, with most of the startups planting their headquarters in Charlotte or the Triangle. So far, Premier has raised more than $11 million in its initial stock offering, which began Aug.
Banking Commission approves Premier charter
The N.C. Banking Commission has granted a conditional charter to begin operations for Premier Commercial Bank, a business-only bank being formed in Greensboro, according to an announcement. Bank organizers have applied for deposit insurance from the FDIC, and are currently awaiting approval. The bank expects to be able to open in early 2008. So far, Premier has raised more than $11 million in its initial stock offering, which began on Aug. 1. The stock offering has been extended through Feb. 29 at the latest to allow for additional capital to be raised. Investment bank Samco Capital Markets Inc. is assisting in the final stage of capital-raising, Premier said. .
PM: Provide loans for agricultural projects
SETIU: Include agriculture when extending loans to small and medium-sized enterprises, the prime minister told banks yesterday. Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said like manufacturing, agriculture was also an enterprise.
"Loans could be given out to group farming schemes or individuals.
"The land must be sizeable to ensure the venture is viable. The SME Bank should look into this."
Abdullah said with the government promoting agriculture as a business and by providing channels for landowners to secure loans for farming, the problem of idle land could be overcome.
He spoke after visiting the fertigation project under the Sutratani scheme in Telaga Papan.
The project is a joint venture between the State Economic Development Corporation subsidiary, Terengganu Agrotek Development Corporation and JPB Greentech Sdn Bhd, which uses a hi-tech farming method from Holland.
FTSE down as Barclays fails to lift banks
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Shareholders to fight Rock ‘fire sale’
THE two biggest shareholders in Northern Rock are calling for the auction of the stricken bank to be abandoned. RAB Capital and SRM Global, two hedge funds that account for 13% of the bank’s equity, said this weekend the company should not be sold or broken up. The explosive demand could derail a sale process that had attracted up to eight first-round offers when bids closed on Friday. Among them is a consortium led by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group. The company has assembled a funding syndicate led by Royal Bank of Scotland to repay immediately £10 billion of Northern Rock’s government borrowings. According to bankers, the RBS team includes Citi, and there is an intention to provide a £20 billion loan. But shareholders say the sale should be abandoned.
China Caps Bank Lending
Apart from the optimists in Australia, Asian stockmarkets took fright yesterday afternoon after the second report in five days surfaced of attempts by Chinese bank regulators to cool an overheating lending market. And there will be falls today after another dose of subprime-US housing induced realism in the US markets overnight saw all major indexes fall, and big falls in copper and gold as well. Yields on US Government securities fell to new two year lows around 4.06% for the 10 year bond: that's a desire for safety, not a vote on the future prospects of US economic activity, or China's for that fact. There's a gathering school of thought that China is now finding the boom harder control and is adopting some old fashioned ideas. Late last week it was the Financial Times which reported that banks were being told to slow lending to certain industries.
Prescription for success: Company helps small-town pharmacies lower prices and maintain that personal touch
Shrinking profit margins and the proliferation of larger pharmacies make community drugstores seem as quaint as soda fountains, but DeForest-based MD Group is writing a new prescription for success. Partners Matt Mabie and Daniel Strause have developed a business model that preserves the character and personalized service of small-town pharmacies while harnessing their collective buying power. "By adding them all together, you can buy drugs cheaper when you have the volume of 13 stores banded together versus one, " Mabie said. "That 's where we have been able to save the most money and maintain a decent business. " .
Napster Mobile on New Samsung Phone from AT&T
A new phone from AT&T and Samsung will be offering Napster Mobile this holiday season. Called the SLM, the exclusive-to-AT&T phone will let users search the music service's catalog of more than five million songs, preview song samples, and buy songs to download to the handset. .
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