VantageSouth named top SBA lender

VantageSouth, the N.C. bank that recently merged with Community Bank of Rowan, has been named the No. 1 Small Business Administration lender in the state, it announced this week.

The bank's SBA loan volume edged out other lenders across the state in the first five months of the agency's fiscal year, VantageSouth said. The government-guaranteed SBA loans are aimed at helping small businesses that might otherwise have difficulty securing financing with reasonable terms.

"We are able to fill the gap many small business owners find themselves trapped in between the small banks and the 'mega' banks," VantageSouth President Steve Jones said in a news release this week.

VantageSouth expanded into Salisbury after its parent company, Raleigh-based Piedmont Community Bank Holdings Inc., merged it with Community Bank of Rowan. It has five branches across the state.