Community Alliance Trust Company Names Board of Directors.

Business Editors

CHARLOTTE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 13, 2004

James T. Comer III, APM, CEO of Community Alliance Trust Company (proposed) announced the names of the company's board of directors. Mr. Comer stated, "Our board represents many decades of experience improving the financial well being of North Carolina residents. They will be a great foundation upon which to build a successful trust company."

The directors include Mr. Robert T. Braswell, CEO of Carolina Bank, Greensboro, NC; Mr. Roderick J. Buie, CFA, who previously served as Senior VP and Managing Director of Portfolio Management/Investments for the Carolinas and Georgia for Wachovia; Mr. James T. Comer, President of CBH Pensions, Inc. in Charlotte, NC; Mr. John D. Kersh, Jr., managing attorney of Gray, Layton, Kersh, Solomon, Sigmon, Furr and Smith, PA, Gastonia, NC; Mr. William A. Long, CEO of Yadkin Valley Bank, Elkin, NC; and Mr. G. David Orr, Charlotte, NC, who retired in 2002 as the Chief Economist for First Union.

Community Alliance Trust Company previously announced it had filed an application with the NC Banking Commission to operate a trust company. The company hopes to have an approval from the commission in May 2004. Mr. Buie will serve as the company's COO; Mr. Comer will serve as the President and CEO.

Principals of the proposed trust company have more than 250 years of combined management experience in trust and management services. Initially, the trust company will serve customers in North Carolina and plans to eventually extend services to Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

Mr. Comer said that Community Alliance Trust intends to market its services principally through alliances with community banks. Commenting on the company's marketing model, he said, "A joint marketing alliance with community banks makes good sense. Community banks can now be more competitive in their markets because they can offer their customers the services of a full-fledged trust department. However, they are spared the substantial expense of staffing the trust department. In addition, the community banks can avoid risking the loss of customer relationships that may occur when a trust service referral is sent 'out of house.' The community bank's customer gets the benefits of a completely confidential and private investment advisory resource that brings decades of successful experience to the table." Comer continued, "The benefit to our company is also substantial. We can concentrate resources on our core trust services without the significant investment required to start up a direct sales and marketing effort."

Mr. Comer described the company as a full-service, vertically integrated organization. He explained, "We intend to provide all core services in-house, including custodial trusteeship, investment management, employee benefit services and back office operations. We believe it is especially important to our community bank partners that we serve as a single point of contact for trust services, so we're going to avoid outsourcing any key function, including operations."

Company officials may be reached at Community Alliance Trust Company, 501 Minuet Lane, Suite 102, Charlotte, NC 28217. Mr. Comer's phone numbers are 704-714-3894 and 704-634-6878. His email address is [e-mail].