Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Midwest bank follows customers to LV area

A delayed opening and slowing local economy haven't diminished the opportunities for a Midwestern bank that has entered the Southern Nevada marketplace, its top executives say.

In late 2000 Pewaukee, Wisc.-based CIB Marine Bancshares Inc. launched plans to open a branch of its Marine Bank subsidiary somewhere in the then-booming Las Vegas Valley. By last summer, the bank had selected a site in Henderson near Horizon Ridge Parkway and Eastern Avenue and said its first local branch would open last September.

A series of contractor delays and complications stemming from CIB Marine's purchase of a Florida banking chain ultimately pushed back the local branch's opening to Jan. 7. In the interim, the events of Sept. 11 ensured Marine Bank would open in a much different economic climate than its backers had foreseen.

Despite those challenges, the bank's executives believe they'll quickly make up for lost time. J. Michael Straka, president and CEO of the $2.9 billion CIB Marine, said his company followed its clients to Southern Nevada and will rely largely on transplanted Midwesterners to make up its initial customer base.

"Most of the major banks in the Midwest have customers who have moved here to retire or look for new opportunities," Straka said during the bank's grand opening this week. "It helps to have a place for our customers (from the Midwest) to bank in Nevada."

Bill Mattan, president and chief executive officer of Marine Bank, also believes the bank will attract both retail and commercial clients from those who have previously banked with CIB Marine subsidiaries.

"It's amazing how much business people in the Midwest have tied to interests in Las Vegas and Phoenix," said Mattan, who works out of Marine Bank's newly opened office in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Straka said CIB Marine's recent moves have targeted business in popular retirement communities such as southeastern Florida and the Las Vegas and Phoenix metropolitan areas.

"Regardless of the economy, people will still retire to those areas," Straka said. "(Retirees) add stability to an economy, so banks will follow them."

In fact, Straka said the brief retirement of one of his former executives helped bring Marine Bank to Henderson.

Don Anderson, senior vice president and Henderson branch manager, previously worked with CIB Marine in Illinois. After he launched a new branch of its Central Illinois Bank subsidiary in the mid-1990s, he left the company in 1999 to pursue what he called a "semi-retirement" away from his former home's cold winters.

"On my way out the door, I told Michael (Straka) to call me if he ever wanted to open a bank in Las Vegas," Anderson joked. "I guess he didn't realize I was kidding."

With an established banker and customers already in the area, it took less than a year for Straka to call Anderson and ask if he'd like to establish a CIB Marine affiliate in Southern Nevada.

"We do things in reverse: we'll hire key personnel and then build the bank around them," Straka said. Anderson, who has more than 30 years experience in banking, said he's optimistic about his latest opportunity.

"Southern Nevada's economy is so vibrant, there are also a lot of businesses that are here or are coming here," Anderson said. "We have every reason to want to be here."

Anderson said the bank may consider local expansion plans as business dictates, with Summerlin a likely area of potential growth.

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