BB&T WEALTH OPENS FIRST TEXAS LOCATION BB&T Wealth, a division of BB&T Corp., the nation’s ninth largest financial holding company, has expanded to Texas with the opening of its first office, located at 8117 Preston Road in Dallas. With 60 bank locations throughout Texas, BB&T has nearly doubled its presence in the state since late 2012 when the bank announced plans to open 30 new financial centers in Texas. The Preston Center Wealth office is led by BB&T senior vice president and wealth adviser Janelle Walker. The team includes Ryan Bierds, senior vice president and regional director of portfolio management; Chad Forsberg, senior vice president and financial planning strategist; and Mary Petry, relationship management associate. BB&T Wealth manages $50 billion in client assets and provides customized fiduciary, banking, insurance and investment solutions for affluent individuals and families. BB&T had $181.1 billion in assets and market capitalization of $23.8 billion, as of Sept. 30. Based in Winston-Salem, N.C., the company operates 1,824 financial centers in 12 states and Washington, D.C.
COLONIAL SAVINGS CHOOSES LOANSERV Fort Worth-based Colonial Savings F.A. has selected the LoanServe platform from Fiserv Inc. for its mortgage serving technology needs. Colonial Savings is one of the largest mortgage loan servicers in the United States with a portfolio exceeding $22 billion. It will convert its existing loan servicing portfolio to LoanServ to improve it service to customers. This includes the LoanLink feature, a self-service Web portal that enables borrowers to access and update their loan information in real time. LoanServ consolidates support for all retail loan products on a single platform, including mortgages, home equity loans and lines of credit, personal loans and lines of credit, closed-end and revolving installment loans and indirect financing. It integrates all loan servicing processes and automates payment processing, collections, default management, cashiering, escrow and investor accounting.
GRANBURY SOLUTIONS LAUNCHES POS SYSTEM Granbury Solutions, a Grapevine-based provider of point-of-sale systems for restaurants, has launched Thrive Point-of-Sale (POS) for both iPad and Android tablets. The new software helps restaurant owners improve profitability and streamline operations using features including an intuitive graphical ordering system, complete phone order and delivery management, access to detailed customer information, back office management capabilities, labor management and inventory tracking. The system uses an in-store server for reliability but takes advantage of Web-based technology to provide easy remote management of the system, high-speed credit card processing and integrated online mapping. The platform also integrates with Granbury Solutions’ business building tools, according to CEO Tom Bronson. “With Thrive we provide a simplified, turnkey solution for our customers so that they can focus on growing their business,” he said. Thrive Point-of-Sale is available as a monthly subscription and as a software license purchase. Visit www.granburyrs.com.
MOBILE PAYMENTS UP AT COMMUNITY BANKS The number of community banks that offer mobile payments is increasing, according to a nationwide survey released Nov. 12 by the Independent Community Bankers of America. The 2013 ICBA Community Bank Payments Survey found that 37 percent of community banks offer mobile payments, an increase of 23 percent over 2011, and that an additional 43 percent intend to offer mobile payments to their customers by 2015. Larger community banks are leading the way, with 54 percent of banks with $501 million or more in assets offering mobile payments. Community banks with $251 million to $500 million in assets are not far behind, with 46 percent offering mobile payments. Other key findings and trends from the 2013 survey include: electronic person-to-person payments are now offered by 40 percent of community banks, up from 27 percent in 2011; debit cards continue to be seen as essential to community banks’ customer relationships, with 99 percent rating them as important and 87 percent rating them as very important; nearly every bank surveyed was affected by debit card fraud losses.
HOUSING AGENCY RECEIVES BUYER-COUNSELING GRANT The Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas and Comerica Bank awarded a $20,000 grant to Housing Opportunities of Fort Worth Inc. to provide counseling for families in need. This is the second partnership grant the housing agency has received in the past few years. The grant will be used to augment other funds the agency receives for homebuyer education, default delinquency and reverse equity mortgage counseling. HOFW serves about 500 families a year with one-on-one counseling.