ABA Banking Journal - August 2007 - (Page 33)

CORRESPONDENT BANKING Move over, buddy With the old gentleman’s agreements fading, bankers’ banks grow increasingly competitive—and “coopetive” om Bryan heads The Bankers Bank, out of Atlanta, Ga., but some competitors may be thinking that Bryan and his board emphasize the first word, as in “The Bankers Bank.” Actually, there are 21 of these specialized institutions around the country. But Bryan and his banker-shareholder board, which manage the largest one, at $2.1 billion in assets, use a blueprint that leaves some other bankers’ banks a trifle breathless. Or, in more than one case, exasperated. “Our strategic plan is to become America’s correspondent bank,” says Bryan. T By Steve Cocheo, executive editor www.ababj.com/subscribe.html ABA BANKING JOURNAL/ABA BANKING JOURNAL/AUGUST 2007 33 ILLUSTRATION BY NICOLE FREDRICKSON Extreme end of the trend It’s estimated today that between 5,500 and 6,000 community banks and savings institutions use services of one or more bankers’ banks. These specialized institutions were invented to serve the correspondent needs of community banks that found that traditional correspondents either couldn’t serve them, didn’t want to, or were gone. Over time the bankers’ banks have changed their approaches to meet the needs of a changing business. One of the most extremely evolved bankers’ banks is Bryan’s. Already, The Bankers Bank, originally chartered in 1986 as Georgia Bankers Bank, has about 1,400 respondent banks using one or more of its services, which range from bankers’ bank bread-and-butter basics such as check processing, participations, and overlines, to investment banking and securities assistance, to consulting in such disciplines as compliance and branch siting. Bryan’s company draws its shareholders from 12 states, cur- rently, and does business in 35 states. The bank’s physical office network includes 13 states, using a combination of specialized loanproduction offices, business development offices, and regional offices that feature staff from all of the bank’s service areas. The bank filed to convert to a national charter earlier this year, to better facilitate loanproduction office expansion. Already, its footprint extends to several locations in California and Washington state, to Florida, to Chicago and other parts of the Great Lakes region, through much of the south, and as far north as Boston. In most spots, another banker’s bank already did business there, or even called the market home. “They are a strong competitor,” says Peter Sposito, president and CEO, Bankers’ Bank Northeast, $120.7 million-assets, based in Glastonbury, Conn., which was chartered to serve the six New England states and New York. “I’m not sure that we’ve lost any business, but we keep hearing their name.” A war of multiple fronts The southern bank isn’t Sposito’s only source of bankers’ bank competition. The $103.7 Atlantic Central Bankers Bank, which began as Pennsylvania Independent Bank in 1983, serves banks in Washington, D.C., Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania—and New York. But like others contacted, Sposito points to The Bankers Bank’s Specialty Finance Group, an operation that the Georgia institution acquired from GMAC Commercial Mortgage a few years ago. The group has stirred up some controversy in bankers’ bank circles, because it actually goes out and finds loans http://www.bankersbank.com http://www.bankersbank.com http://www.bankersbanknortheast.com http://www.atlanticcentral.com http://www.ababj.com/subscribe.html

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of ABA Banking Journal - August 2007

Contents Editor's Column The Unbankers Snapshot: Do Share Repurchases Signal More M&A Activity Sleight of Mind Goals Behind Proposed ABA/ACB Merger ABA Resources ABA Chairman's Position Should You Sell Those Nonperformers Pass the Aspirin Branch Design - Evoking a Sense of Place Two Banks Take the LEED Move Over, Buddy Service Feature: Bankers' Banks Directory Websites: What's State of the Art for Banks? Citi Mobile to Go Strong with iPhone? Date First, Marry Later Mailbox Banker's Mart To Advertise/Index of Advertisers The Economy

ABA Banking Journal - August 2007

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