Mike Golden Regional President, Raleigh Wells Fargo
What role does the Raleigh market play in the overall Wells Fargo strategy for North Carolina? I lead one of two regions in North Carolina, which is called the Carolina East region, spanning geographically from the Piedmont Triad to the Triangle to Coastal North Carolina. My office is based in Raleigh. We’re a major force in the company, in terms of both deposit share and customer households. In the Triangle alone, we serve 230,000 households. That has been especially critical in the last 12 months as we have served our customers while at the same time keeping our team members safe. Through a North Carolina lens, Charlotte and Raleigh are two of the Top 20 fastest-growing markets in the country. We are a technology and growth hub. We’ve seen growth rates continue, even with the pandemic. We have commanded a major market share for a number of years, ranking No.1 or No. 2 based on FDIC deposit statistics. How has Wells Fargo been an important factor in financially supporting the business community? The last 12 months have been the most unique of my 40-year career. First and foremost, we are proud to have kept most of our branches opened. We’ve grown deposits based on FDIC market share by $1.6 billion. Our customers trusted us to retain more deposits than they did previously. We also announced an investment in six African-American minority deposit institutions, including M&T Bank, which is headquartered here in the Triangle. That is a pledge to invest up to $50 million in our Black-owned businesses. As part of this investment, we unlocked access to a dedicated Wells Fargo relationship team that will help provide financial, technological and product development advice to them. Another way that we funded businesses in need is through our partnership with the Raleigh Relief Fund. We are one of the original investors in that fund. Collectively, the fund and the city of Raleigh generated $1.6 million in grants for over 200 small businesses early in the pandemic, before the first PPP loan was ever made. 120
| Invest: Raleigh-Durham 2021 | BANKING & FINANCE
The Raleigh-Durham region’s corporate tax rate of 2.5% is the lowest in the country.
( ) quantum computing firm Atom Computing’s decision to use the Triangle as its growth base, armed with a recently closed $15 million funding round. The surge of AI in loan underwriting also prompted the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) to urge federal banking regulators to exhaustively evaluate and monitor different mechanisms to protect consumers and small businesses from discrimination when lenders use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to underwrite loans. Banks have received the consumer’s message loud and clear and are investing to bolster and diversify their digital solutions aimed at customers who prefer to bank virtually. Yet, keeping pace with technological trends can spread resources thin, especially for smaller and midsized lenders such as community and regional banks, making partnerships and alliances a practical solution rather than developing the necessary tech in-house. The result is the expansion of a consolidation phase in the
