EVERETT – It was a year for the record books.
Mountain Pacific Bank recently celebrated its first year in operation. The Everett-based community bank, which opened in July 2006, listed $66 million in assets as of June 30.
“We’ve had such a great year,” said Mark Duffy, bank president.
When it opened, Mountain Pacific had raised $16.5 million, which was the largest opening outside of King County at the time, Duffy said. The bank followed up that record with more success six months later.
“We did make a profit in our first six months of operation,” Duffy said.
Typically, new banks tend to lose money during the first 18 to 24 months. Duffy attributes several factors to Mountain Pacific’s success.
For one, the bank sits in a highly visible spot in the Everett Gateway Center at the corner of 38th Street and Broadway. But location alone wouldn’t bring in customers.
Together, Duffy and Graham Haight, Mountain Pacific’s executive vice president, have more than 50 years of banking experience in the region.
Duffy served as president of Coastal Community Bank and previously was associated with Commercial Bank of Everett. Prior to coming to Mountain Pacific Bank, Haight was president and chief lending officer at Bank of Washington in Lynnwood. He previously worked at Pacific Northwest Bank and Cascade Bank.
That kind of experience has helped Mountain Pacific Bank win over customers.
But with increasing competition between community banks, Duffy knows that Mountain Pacific needs to distinguish itself from others.
Besides its brightly blue and yellow logo and walls, the bank offers innovative products and services such as its mobile branch. Mountain Pacific provides no-cost ATM cards, reimbursing users for any costs they incur. The bank also has a patron-checking option in which customers can give interest earned on their account to a local charity of choice.
Construction and development lending make up a fair amount of the bank’s business. That means Duffy is watching for signs of slowing in Snohomish County’s growth.
“Right now, we don’t have any concerns about it,” Duffy said. “We talk to our builders and developers a lot. We really keep our ears to the ground.”
Duffy also is keeping an eye for ways to increase the bank’s commercial and industrial lending. That’s business Duffy believes will come in time.
With that in mind, Mountain Pacific and Duffy are planning for the future.
The bank will open up its second location around Nov. 1. The branch, situated in a former Skippers’ restaurant site in Lynnwood, is on the corner of 196th Street SW and Highway 99 – another high-visibility site for Mountain Pacific.
After that, Duffy says, “we’ll look to space it out a bit, maybe open one branch each year.”
Reporter Michelle Dunlop: 425-339-3454 or mdunlop@heraldnet.com.
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