ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, April 12, 1996 TAG: 9604120056
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
First Citizens Bank of Raleigh, N.C., said Thursday it will open a branch bank and its state headquarters in Roanoke County.
The branch, in a Harris Teeter supermarket under construction at 4400 Brambleton Ave. S.W., will offer Sunday hours. First Citizens also plans to open a branch in a Harris Teeter store on Boonsboro Road in Lynchburg.
With the two new locations, First Citizens will have 18 branches across the state in addition to four in West Virginia. The bank, with assets of $7.2 billion, has more than 300 branches in North Carolina and Virginia combined.
The bank opened this week in a new Harris Teeter store at the Gables Shopping Center in Blacksburg, its first inside a supermarket. The other Virginia branches are free-standing banks.
First Citizens spokesman Christopher Bubin said Virginia has not seen its last free-standing bank, and such branches are possible in the Roanoke Valley. He said First Citizens is negotiating for other locations, but has no firm plans.
The bank has about 135 employees in its existing 16 Virginia branches. The network spans 240 miles from east to west and has about $277 million in deposits. First Citizens first entered the Virginia market about two years ago.
The Virginia and West Virginia banks are being administered from a new office at 3959 Electric Road S.W., the Tanglewood West building.
John R. Francis Jr. has moved from Raleigh to Roanoke County to head that operation. Before he joined First Citizens, Francis was president of the community banking group for First Union Corp. in Roanoke.
Dennis Traubert, formerly regional executive officer in Roanoke for Signet Bank, is First Citizens' area executive for the Roanoke region. He is responsible for all lending in the region except for companies with more than $34 million a year in revenue.
Larger loans will be handled by Stephen Downie, who is currently based in Bedford. Bubin said no decision has been made about his permanent location. Downie also came from First Union.
First Citizens said its 390-square-foot supermarket branches will feature a private office, a service counter, an automated teller machine and safe-deposit boxes. They will offer a full line of bank products, including loans.
They will also offer the bank's "red phones," which provide direct telephone access to account representatives in Raleigh. Those representatives can act as extra tellers, performing most of the same basic transactions as in-store personnel.
Hours at the new branches will be from 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday.
The bank also announced that Marshall Stowe has moved from Raleigh to Martinsville to serve as area executive for the Martinsville region. First Citizens in March acquired the Martinsville and Collinsville branches from First Union.
Stowe once worked in Martinsville and later in Roanoke for former Dominion Bank and its successor, First Union. He had administered those same branches for Dominion.
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshots) Francis, Traubert. Graphic: Map. color.by CNB