Coming off a terrific 2002, northern
Nevada bankers think their industry will
do even better in 2003.
How good was this year? Try some of
these numbers reported to the Federal
Deposit Insurance Corp. at the end of
the third quarter:
* Reno-based 1st National Bank
reported net income of $9.3 million for
the first nine months of the year, up sixfold
from its profits a year earlier.
* First Independent Bank, another
Reno-based institution, reported net
income of $793,000, more than double
the $353,000 it earned in the first three
quarters of 2001.
* Heritage Bank, a young independent
bank based in Reno, earned $539,000
compared with $313,000 a year earlier.
* Northern Nevada Bank turned the
corner of profitability, earning $31,000
after losing $849,000 as a start-up during
early 2001.
While the percentage gains posted by
smaller independent banks are tough to
replicate at big institutions,Well Fargo
Bank of Nevada reported profits for the
first three quarters of this year of $300.7
million, an increase of more than $33
million over the same period a year ago.
Bankers have to squint hard to see
any dark clouds on the horizon during
2003.
Kirk Clausen, regional president of
Wells Fargo Bank of Nevada, said his
bank projects that its results in northern
Nevada in 2003 probably will top the
record-setting pace established in 2002
even if the national economy slides sideways.
"We see a very vibrant, very buck-thetrend
economy in northern Nevada," he
said.
The region continues to post job
growth perhaps not as fast as the
boom years of the late 1990s, but solid
nonetheless and Clausen said a key to
the region's economic success has been
upward movement in average salaries.
"It's absolutely incredible how the
average salary continues to work itself
up," Clausen said. "We seem to attract
good jobs."
At the region's newest bank, Nevada
Security Bank, President Dave Funk sees
signs that industrial development is
beginning to arouse from its year-long
slumber in northern Nevada. That's a key
part of the construction lending business
in the region.
"Northern Nevada will continue to
grow just good, quality, steady
growth," said Funk.
When the FDIC last week released its
outlook for the region's banks, about the
only cloud it could see on the horizon in
Nevada is a bankruptcy rate increasing
twice as fast as the national average.
