Start Your Own Bank (Really)
From August 2005
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“We don’t foresee anything drastic,” Voelker says. “We’ve tested the market to the extent we’re pretty sure the capital is there. We’ve found our location, and we’ve tested our business plan.”
“We’re trying not to be smug, but at the same time we have a high level of confidence.”
Nancy Sheppard, CEO of Western Independent Bankers, an association of about 260 member community banks in 10 Western states, says while the number of community banks has steadily declined over the years, it hasn’t deterred new ones from opening and producing strong returns for their shareholders.
Their success in part is a reaction to the increase in large, less personal corporate banks. Even though some of the chain banks emphasize relationship banking, they can’t compete with local banks in that aspect, she says.
The officers of local banks tend to be involved in community groups, such as the chamber of commerce and rotary; they sponsor Little League teams and, of course, tend to make most of their loans within the community itself.
“Despite the fact that over the course of the last number of years, we’ve heard that small banks are going to go away, it just ain’t happening,” Sheppard says. “They just keep coming back.”
“We’re trying not to be smug, but at the same time we have a high level of confidence.”
Nancy Sheppard, CEO of Western Independent Bankers, an association of about 260 member community banks in 10 Western states, says while the number of community banks has steadily declined over the years, it hasn’t deterred new ones from opening and producing strong returns for their shareholders.
Their success in part is a reaction to the increase in large, less personal corporate banks. Even though some of the chain banks emphasize relationship banking, they can’t compete with local banks in that aspect, she says.
The officers of local banks tend to be involved in community groups, such as the chamber of commerce and rotary; they sponsor Little League teams and, of course, tend to make most of their loans within the community itself.
“Despite the fact that over the course of the last number of years, we’ve heard that small banks are going to go away, it just ain’t happening,” Sheppard says. “They just keep coming back.”
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