Select intelligence.

• Position: EASTERN REGION

After completing the third biggest intrastate merger among North Carolina banks last year, Dunn-based Select Bancorp is more than 40% larger in assets and looks better prepared to compete for customers in the eastern third of the state. Dunn-based New Century Bancorp paid $31.1 million for Greenville-based Select Bank, then adopted its name. The transaction added six offices and $276.9 million in assets, giving Select about $766 million in total assets with 14 offices. While Select has offices in Burlington, Gibsonville and Raleigh and wants to expand in the fast-growing Triangle, most of its business occurs in Dunn, Fayetteville, Greenville and other eastern North Carolina cities experiencing slower expansion. Select's owners saw the value of a combination because changing bank regulations required hefty investments. "They would have had to ramp up with human resources and compliance, and we had all of those things," says Chief Executive Officer William Hedgepeth, who started as New Century's CEO in 2007. Like many banks, New Century struggled during the recession, reporting...