HENDERSONVILLE, N.C., Oct. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Mountain 1st Bank & Trust Company (BULLETIN BOARD: MOBT) announced that the Bank has been accepted into the Small Business Administration's "Preferred Lenders Program." Mountain 1st Bank is now the only bank headquartered in western North Carolina to be designated as an SBA Preferred Lender. Preferred Lenders are nominated based on their historical record with the SBA and they must have demonstrated a proficiency in processing and servicing SBA-guaranteed loans. The Preferred Lenders Program (PLP) is a part of the SBA's process of "streamlining" the procedures necessary to provide financial assistance to the small business community. Under PLP, the SBA delegates loan approval, closing, and most servicing and liquidation authority and responsibility to these carefully selected lenders.
Greg Gibson, CEO stated, "We are very pleased that Mountain 1st has been designated by the SBA as a Preferred Lender. This designation will enable us to provide even faster responses and service to the business community with respect to loans guaranteed by the SBA. As the only SBA Preferred Lender headquartered in western North Carolina, we believe this will move us further toward our goal of being the business bank of choice for small business owners and operators throughout the region."
This Press Release and its exhibits contain statements relating to our financial condition, results of operations, plans, strategies, trends, projections of results of specific activities or investments, expectations or beliefs about future events or results, and other statements that are not descriptions of historical facts. Those statements may be forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements may be identified by terms such as "may," "will," "should," "could," "expects," "plans," "intends," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "forecasts," "potential" "opportunity," or "continue," or similar terms or the negative of these terms, or other statements concerning opinions or judgments of our management about future events. Forward-looking information is inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors, which include, but are not limited to, factors discussed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and in other reports we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. Copies of those reports are available directly through the Commission's website at http://www.sec.gov/. Other factors that could influence the accuracy of those forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: (a) the financial success or changing strategies of our customers; (b) customer acceptance of our services, products and fee structure; (c) changes in competitive pressures among depository and other financial institutions or in our ability to compete effectively against larger financial institutions in our banking market; (d) actions of government regulators, or changes in laws, regulations or accounting standards, that adversely affect our business; (e) our ability to manage our growth and to underwrite increasing volumes of loans; (f) the impact on our profits of increased staffing and expenses resulting from expansion; (g) changes in the interest rate environment and the level of market interest rates that reduce our net interest margin and/or the volumes and values of loans we make and securities we hold; (h) weather and similar conditions; (i) changes in general economic or business conditions and the real estate market in our banking market (particularly changes that affect our loan portfolio, the abilities of our borrowers to repay their loans, and the values of loan collateral); and (j) other developments or changes in our business that we do not expect. Although our management believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. All forward-looking statements attributable to us are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements in this paragraph. We have no obligation, and do not intend, to update these forward-looking statements.
Mountain 1st Bank & Trust Company, one of the most rapidly growing community banks in the Southeast, is a state-chartered, non-member community bank headquartered in Hendersonville, N.C.
