ARLINGTON – A toddler with more than $77 million to its name. That’s North County Bank.
The Arlington-headquartered community bank marked its fifth anniversary in April by issuing a quarterly report to its 483 shareholders that boasted a 59-percent increase in net income and a 51-percent jump in total assets.
North County is trying to succeed on the traditional community bank formula – superior service at rates that are close to what the big banks offer.
“That’s kind of what I try to sell – value,” said Jack Myles, North County’s president and chief executive. “Is the rate that important or is getting the deal done? If there’s no loan, that low rate’s not worth much.”
North County Bank has been through a lot of changes in its first five years.
The founding CEO, Don Laufenberg, died of a heart attack little more than a year after the bank opened its doors. Myles came on board in October 2000. A veteran banker, he had been a senior credit officer for North Star Bank, a community bank in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood.
The bank, which started out aiming to capture small business customers, has instead found a successful niche with mortgages and lending to small-scale real estate developers – “the guys who build two to a dozen houses,” Myles said.
The bank’s mortgage department, launched in 2002, contributed more than $250,000 to the bottom line in 2003. There’s only one loan officer in the department, but that’s what customers like, Myles said. “There’s one person who talks you through the whole process.”
In all, North County showed a $617,000 profit in 2003, a 114-percent increase over 2002. The bank closed the year with $71 million in assets, which it grew with the issuance of trust-preferred securities – a type of investment paper similar to a bond. Total assets at the end of the first quarter sat at more than $77 million – a big increase over the $5 million the bank raised to open.
The bank opened a second branch, in Marysville, in 2002, and Myles said he’ll continue to look for new locations, just so long as he can find the right bankers to staff them.
“I’m not just going to open branches to have branches,” he said.
And as the recovery gains momentum, the bank will start to shift its loan emphasis, he said. “We’re going to be looking more at business loans, as companies get a little healthier.”
Even with the growth, North County Bank remains one of the smallest financial institutions in Snohomish County. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. reported last year that it had a less-than-1-percent share of the county’s banking market.
Never mind, Myles said.
“We’re going to continue to chip away at the big boys,” he said. “It’s like a mosquito drawing blood, but it’s more than enough for me to grow.”
Reporter Bryan Corliss: 425-339-3454 or corliss@heraldnet.com.
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