Nevada State Bank grocery store branches to become U.S. Bank

Home News staff

Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2008 | 10:15 a.m.

Starting in January, the 28 Nevada State Bank branches in Smith's grocery stores statewide will become U.S. Bank branches, subject to federal approval.

The deal allows Nevada State Bank to focus on its freestanding branches, including the 13 Silver State Bank locations in Southern Nevada that it acquired on Sept. 5.

Dallas Haun, president of Nevada State Bank, said the agreement will not affect the loans or deposits of Nevada State Bank customers, which will not be transferred to U.S. Bank.

"Simply put, it will be business as usual for our clients," he said. "Over the next four months, we will be in continuous communication with our clients and our nearly 900 employees throughout the state to make this transition as seamless as possible."

With assets of more than $4.6 billion, Nevada State Bank is the state's fourth largest commercial bank. Silver State Bank had assets of $2 billion and deposits of $1.7 billion.

Nevada State Bank operates 85 branches in the state and will continue to operate its in-store branch in Boulder City, in the Vons store.

The move away from in-store branches "is clearly in keeping with our company's long-term strategic focus on providing full-service banking, as we feel freestanding branches provide a more quiet, professional atmosphere that's conducive to handling all the financial needs of our clients," Haun said.

Employees of Nevada State Bank will be relocated to other branches or interview for a similar position with U.S. Bank.

U.S. Bank also assumes the leases of 21 Zions First National Bank branches in Smith's stores in Utah. Zions Bancorporation of Salt Lake City owns Zions First National Bank and Nevada State Bank.

"Our partnership with Smith's is a perfect example of our stated interest in growing our Western franchise and we feel very fortunate to give our customers even greater access by expanding beyond the 20 Smith's in-store banking locations we are currently operating in Utah and Nevada," said Chuck Stroup, U.S. Bank executive vice president.

U.S. Bank had 60 branches in Nevada and 45 in Utah before the acquisition. The additional locations give U.S. Bank the second-most branches in Las Vegas.

The new U.S. Bank locations in Smith's stores will be open seven days a week in Nevada.

Nevada State Bank has not opened a new branch in a Smith's store in more than three years and earlier this year sold its three branches in Food-4-Less stores, all of which were in Southern Nevada.

The bank will continue to operate three branches in Smith's stores in Mesquite, Wendover and Elko. Nevada State Bank will extend the hours of operation at many of its freestanding locations throughout Nevada.