The Virginian-Pilot
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Southern Bank and Trust Co., which took over the failed Bank of the Commonwealth, announced late Friday that it plans to close nearly half its branches in Hampton Roads and on the Outer Banks and lay off workers.
Southern, owned by Southern BancShares Inc. in Mount Olive, N.C., released a statement just before 5 p.m. that said its "realignment plan" for the region included the consolidation of 12 existing branches, leaving 11 of the 21 it now has in Hampton Roads and northeastern North Carolina.
The consolidation will "inevitably result in a reduction of bank employees in the region," the statement read.
Some reduction in Commonwealth's branch network was expected after its failure and sale to Southern.
Southern's statement did not identify the branch locations that would close or the number of workers who would lose jobs. Commonwealth had 200 employees when Southern acquired it.
All employees will have a chance to apply for other positions in the region, the bank said in the statement.
John L. Heeden, Southern Bank's senior vice president of marketing and communications, was listed as the contact person on the statement but did not return a phone call or email seeking more information.
The new owner's goal with the consolidation is to "establish a stable, profitably sustainable branch network" in the new markets it acquired, Southern's statement read.
The bank announced that customers of affected branches would receive notices in the mail beginning next week. Branches "scheduled for consolidation" also will post notices, the statement said. Customer accounts will not change.
According to its website, Southern has four branches in Norfolk, six in Virginia Beach, four in Chesapeake, two in Portsmouth, one in Suffolk and four in northeastern North Carolina.
Southern Bank plans to complete the changes by March 1.
Bank of the Commonwealth, based in Norfolk, was shut down in September by banking regulators. It had lost more than $110 million in the three and a half years before it was closed because of problem loans and weakness in the real estate market.
Southern Bank, a 110-year-old privately held company, made its entry into this region when it bought $924 million of Commonwealth's assets and assumed its deposits, which amounted to $902 million on June 30.
Carolyn Shapiro, (757) 446-2270, carolyn.shapiro@pilotonline.com
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Too big to fail, Too small to bailout
The feds looked at many companies like Bank of America and CitiBank as too large to fail. If these companies are too large to fail, anti-trust laws should break them up. Then smaller well run banks could have filled the void.
Bank of Hamton Roads was not too big to fail. Oops. Let all banks succeed or fail based on their performance.
Comment deleted
Comment removed for rules violation. Reason: Personal attack, name calling
A hint
The fact that they still have a plastic bag over the old bank sign that says "Southern Bank" might be a hint.
SHAME, SHAME, SHAME
The employess are the ones that will suffer. Not only are their existing 401 K frozen by the Feds but getting laid off so Southern can benifit from what they can pick out of the Feds..Southern has already laid off any Bank of the Commonwealth employess that knew the customers. Oh, but do they care about the customers either.....
The employees had a chance
The employees had a chance to get out, if they stayed it was their own fault. BOC's point f no return was in late 2007. The writing had been on the wall as clear as day for 2 years before they were shuttered. Heck, BOC couldn't even make payroll in Dec 09 - how does that saying go, " fool me once...."
Dog tag
If you had another brain, it would be lonesome !!!
Southern Bank
is not going out of business, they are in good shape. They are just closing down branches that are not profitiable or their leases are too expensive. I plan on using Southern Bank... They are actually an outstanding bank with great service.
Wrong, Commonwealths's
Wrong, Commonwealths's failure back in September did cost taxpayers and the FDIC fund nearly $300 million.
Here's my best guess at the branches to be closed:
-Redmill
-Ocean View
-Western Branch
-London Blvd
-Taylor Road
-Suffolk
- Powell's Point (certainty)
- Waves (certainty)
- Moyock
- Kitty Hawk ( possible to keep this one open and consolidate with their branch in KDH, but the location is massive, has unfavorable lease terms, and the building is owned by former BOC execs and director's families, expect it to close too)
This is based on an assessment of branch deposits and activity, if building costs and over the top opulence are being targeted, expect Cypress Point to close too, saving possibly Western Branch.
Failed Bank
Well another Bank that bites the DUST. I guess there will be some more of my TAX MONEY being used to COVER this up. Like the cover ups in the past. Bank of America, Citibank, Chase.. When will it ever end? I say NEVER, it will never end. Thank you to the CROOKS in DC and Wall Street. I hope Wall Street will go BUST like these sorry banks.
FAILED
No you don't have to worry about your tax dollars going towards this one cause its closing. The ones you have to worry about are the Bank of Americas in the country that move bad debt from the hedge funds into the bank deposits and make us pay for them.
This country is about to implode and few are realizing it. Watch the Euro and you will see the future of the $ in United States that's weighed down by European debt and our own. Bailouts only go so far before the people wake up and understand that we don't owe the money for their bad gambling habits and revolt against it like in Greece. WE DO NOT OWE THE MONEY FOR THEIR BAD BUSINESS PRACTICES AND SHOULD NOT BE BAILING OUT EUROPE OR ANY MORE BANKS THERE OR IN THIS COUNTRY. LET THEM FAIL!