INDEPENDENT AUDITORS' CONSENT






The Board of Directors
United Carolina Bancshares Corporation

We consent to incorporation  by reference in the Registration  Statement on Form
S-8 of United Carolina Bancshares  Corporation (the  "Corporation")  relating to
the 1993 Nonstatutory  Stock Option Plan for Directors of Seaboard Savings Bank,
Inc., SSB, as assumed by United Carolina Bancshares  Corporation,  of our report
dated January 17, 1996,  relating to the  consolidated  balance sheets of United
Carolina  Bancshares  Corporation  and  subsidiaries as of December 31, 1995 and
1994, and the related  consolidated  statements of income,  stockholders' equity
and cash flows for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31,
1995,  which report  appears in the December 31, 1995 annual report on Form 10-K
of United Carolina Bancshares Corporation.  Out report dated January 1788, 1996,
refers to the fact that on  December  31,  1993,  the  Corporation  adopted  the
provisions of the Financial  Accounting Standards Board's Statement of Financial
Accounting  Standards No. 115,  "Accounting for Certain  Investments in Debt and
Equity  Securities",  and on  January  1,  1993,  the  Corporation  adopted  the
provisions of the Financial  Accounting Standards Board's Statement of Financial
Accounting  Standards No. 109,  "Accounting  for Income  Taxes." Our report also
refers  to the fact  that on  January  1,  1994,  the  Corporation  adopted  the
provisions of the Financial  Accounting Standards Board's Statement of Financial
Accounting   Standards  No.112,   "Employers'   Accounting  for   Postemployment
Benefits."



                                                    S/ KPMG Peat Marwick LLP

                                                    KPMG Peat Marwick LLP

Raleigh, North Carolina
April 1, 1996