It will close seven branches, including two in Forsyth County, and open four branches, including one in Forsyth.
Branches also will be closed in Lexington, Rockingham County and Thomasville.
The bank said its goal is for the new branches to be more "strategically located in the heart of these markets." It will spend more than a combined $5 million on the new branches -- one each in Forsyth, Greensboro, Lexington and Thomasville.
NewBridge is closing its Robinhood Road branch in Winston-Salem and its Rural Hall branch. It said it is pursuing a site for the new Forsyth branch. With the closing of two branches and addition of a new branch, NewBridge will have five branches in Forsyth.
"We believe these changes to our office network will provide our clients with more convenient access to our services and will also result in increased operating efficiencies," said Pressley Ridgill, the president and chief executive of NewBridge.
Ridgill said that the new branches will open at different times in 2010, while the branches being shut down are scheduled for closing in early 2010.
"The plan represents an aggressive push to enhance efficiencies and pave the way for growth in the next decade," Ridgill said.
The move comes at a time when NewBridge has posted four consecutive quarterly loss, hampered by sharp rises in its loan-loss provision and net charge-offs.
It also had been affected by an increase in its insurance premium to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. That cost, which has been imposed on member institutions, aims to recapitalize the FDIC's insurance fund. NewBridge has been paying a preferred dividend to the U.S. Treasury for the bank's participation in the capital-purchase program.
New Bridger's other branch consolidation includes closing its existing South Lexington, Talbert and Westside branches in Lexington in favor of a new branch at the intersection of Cotton Grove Road and Lowes Boulevard.
In Thomasville, the bank is building a branch at Randolph Street, next door to its current branch. When the new branch is open, the existing branch's building is being donated to the Thomasville Area Chamber of Commerce.
NewBridge plans to open a downtown Greensboro branch at CenterPointe in December. It also is closing its Penrose branch in Rockingham.
Once these changes are completed, NewBridge will have 34 branches in North Carolina and Virginia.
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