Business Bank ready to beat competition

About the time Business Bank of Nevada completes its new branch building in Minden, the company expects that deposits at the branch will surpass those of Nevada State Bank in the market.

Business Bank opened its first fullservice branch in Douglas County at the start of July in 2003.

In the 11 months since then, deposits have grown by nearly $1 million a month and stood at $11.3 million at the end of May, said Jerry Gregory, senior vice president and northern Nevada regional manager for the Las Vegas-based banking company.

At that rate, Gregory expects the Minden branch soon will catch the Nevada State Bank branch in the market.

The Nevada State Bank branch in Douglas County reported deposits of $15.6 million as of June 30, 2003, in a filing with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Well Fargo dominates the market.

Its $260.1 million in deposits a year ago gave it a 48.5 percent share of the market.

Bank of America, with $121.3 million in deposits, had a 22.6 market share of the county's $536.7 million in savings deposits.

Gregory said loans at the branch, meanwhile, stood at $3.5 million at the end of May.

Both the deposits and the loans, he said, are about on budget for the branch.

"We felt those numbers were realistic," Gregory said last week.

"We're tracking our original forecasts."

Business Bank expects the new branch building a 4,100-square-foot office at Highway 395 and Lucerne Street by itself will increase deposits.

Gregory said a number of potential customers have said they've waited for Business Bank to make a substantial investment in the community before moving their accounts.

The new branch office is located on 0.16 acre the bank acquired from Net Development, a California-based company that's developing the 16-acre Minden Village project that will include Business Bank.

The branch will include a drive-up teller and a drive-up ATM.

It replaces a 900-square-foot facility Gregory calls it "a shoebox branch" at the Sierra Center in Minden.

It opened as a loan-production office in early 2003 before it was expanded into a full-service branch.

The new office is projected for completion in about five months.

Gregory credited the four-person staff of the branch for developing the personal relationships that helped the branch grow.

The staff includes Stephanie Hettrick, customer service manager; Susan Potter, vice president and commercial loan officer; Jennifer Calabrese, financial service representative and Jessica Jones, customer service specialist.