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 Incentive  Stock Option Plan 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