Banking On Character

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And the gray-haired gunslingers? "We'll be doing everything we can to make the new company succeed in order to help drive the share price up," says Wright.

Tri Counties Bank

It doesn't look like the headquarters of the biggest regional bank in our area. There is a  distinct lack of ostentation at the north Chico operational nerve center for TriCo Bancshares (TCBK, Nasdaq), the publicly traded holding company for Tri Counties Bank. This lack is either refreshing or unnerving, but in either case frugal. The offices are situated in a nondescript concrete tilt-up commercial complex, hard by Hwy. 99. Thousands of these buildings have sprung up all over California. There's no ornamentation for this bank, not even a big sign. Nothing to announce itself to the world.

It's noteworthy since Tri Counties also has the most assets among regionally headquartered banks -- nearly $2 billion in total -- and the highest regulated legal lending limit for loans at about $60 million. Yet, it is the least known in the Capital region.

The no-frills style persists inside HQ. There are rooms of phone banks; the interiors are standard modern cubicle style; and the place looks like it is crammed with employees, usually a good sign.

Another? Last year (fiscal and calendar 2006) earnings were up more than 13 percent compared with the previous year, assets up 4.3 percent, total loans up 9 percent and deposits up 6.8 percent. So far, fiscal 2007 has been a little softer. But Tri Counties still has a strong balance sheet.

Richard Smith, the bank's chief executive, is a no-nonsense kind of man, not exactly gruff but without the warmth of some of the other bankers. But like other plain talkers, he can be elegant. "I tell our folks that we don't really have a customer until we've turned them down for a loan, or some other financial operation, and kept them as a customer. We'll explain our thinking, and try and show them why we think it is a bad idea for their business right now. And if they value our services and our knowledge, they'll stay with us."

From Smith's perspective, most small businesses need trusted financial advisers to help them determine how to manage the money in their company. "They have lots of accountants, but they are mostly good at talking about tax issues," Smith says. "We're talking about commercial help. That's what we can offer at Tri Counties."

But don't get the wrong idea. Tri Counties has a large consumer business -- 43 percent of its total -- which makes Smith determined to serve the business customer and its employees. "We think there's money to be made in home equity lines, and we want to offer every financial service," he says. "But whereas we advertise for the consumer side, in business everything comes from word of mouth, reputation."

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