More lenders opening LV offices

Kevin Rademacher

Monday, Aug. 30, 2004 | 10:40 a.m.

Lenders are still bullish on the booming Las Vegas economy.

As evidence, a pair of lenders are in various stages of opening local offices. Wilshire State Bank opened a loan production office in Las Vegas last week.

The loan office, which is expected to be joined within a year by a full-service Wilshire State branch, will provide a full range of loans, including small business, automobile and commercial deals. The bank will provide mortgage loans once it receives licensing approval from the state Mortgage Lending Division, said Jinho Huh, manager of the office.

Huh described Wilshire as a Korean-American bank and said that the growing local demographic attracted the company to Southern Nevada.

"From California and Hawaii, a lot of Korean-American people are moving to Las Vegas," he said. "A lot of Korean people cannot speak English. They need some kind of bank where they can speak Korean."

Huh said he already has established contacts within the Asian Chamber of Commerce, as well as other minority organizations, and added that the bank will target the entire local Asian and minority market.

The office, which will have three employees initially, will be located at 3160 S. Valley View Blvd., Suite 105, near Desert Inn Road.

New York-based Mortgage IT Inc. also has filed a licensing application with the state Mortgage Lending Division to open an MIT Lending office in Las Vegas. Company records list John Loveless as the local branch manager.

Scott Bice, Nevada's mortgage lending commissioner, said the division is receiving new applications for mortgage licensing "almost daily." The pace is brisk enough that applications, which include a background check, can take four to six months to process. There are currently about 5,500 licensed mortgage agents in Nevada, he said.

Additionally, Business Bank of Nevada has announced that it has established a construction loan program for homebuilders. The bank, which already has an aggressive commercial lending division, set a goal of $100 million over the next five years for loans to homebuilders.