Honolulu bank enters Vegas banking market

Thursday, Sept. 14, 2000 | 1:06 a.m.

Seven First Security Bank branches in the Las Vegas area will be sold to Honolulu-based BancWest Corp., as part of divestiture plan for approval of First Security Corp.'s $2.9 billion merger with Wells Fargo & Co.

The deal moves BancWest into the hyper-competitive Las Vegas banking market for the first time. It entered the Nevada banking market last year with the purchase of SierraWest Bancorp, which operates in Northern Nevada and California.

The Las Vegas banking market is now dominated by Bank of America and Wells Fargo and has many aggressive national and regional competitors like Nevada State Bank, U.S. Bank and newcomer Washington Mutual. The Las Vegas market is also a battleground for numerous community banks.

The seven branches to be sold, which have deposits of $392.5 million, are among 39 being divested by Wells Fargo, the nation's seventh largest bank, and First Security, Salt Lake City, to three different companies as a condition of their merger.

The merger is expected to close Oct. 2.

The seven branches are at 4813 S. Eastern Ave., near Tropicana Avenue; 2925 S. Rainbow Blvd., at Edna Avenue; 9021 W. Sahara Ave., at The Lakes; 2980 W. Sahara Ave.; 1690 E. Flamingo Road; 4050 Losee Road, in North Las Vegas; and 701 N. Valle Verde Drive, in Henderson.

Two other First Security branches, one each in Carson City and Stateline, are part of the divestiture package, which involves branches with a total of $1.5 billion in deposits. The Northern Nevada branches are being acquired by Colonial Bank, Montgomery, Ala., which already operates in Nevada.

Also included in the package are 23 First Security offices in New Mexico, including 17 in Albuquerque; three First Security and two Wells Fargo branches in Idaho; and two Wells Fargo branches in Utah.

BancWest Corp., which operates as Bank of the West, also is the buyer of the New Mexico branches. The Utah and Idaho branches are being acquired by Glacier Bancorp Inc., Kalispell, Mont.

The New Mexico branches have $746.3 million in deposits, the nine in Nevada have $527.9 million, the Idaho branches have $119 million and the Utah branches have $64.9 million.

The divestiture resolves antitrust concerns from the U.S. Department of Justice. Attorneys general of the four states assisted in the antitrust investigation.

"These divestitures ensure that consumers, including small-and medium-sized businesses, will continue to have choices for banking services and continue to enjoy the benefits of competition," Joel Klein, the Justice Department's antitrust chief, said in a statement. "As a result, consumers in all four of these states will continue to receive competitive loan rates and other banking services."

BancWest has assets of $17.5 billion. It operates a big bank in Hawaii, First Hawaiian Bank. Its Bank of the West is the fifth largest bank in California.