Nebraska bank joins kin in Colorado

FORT COLLINS — A new loan processing office in Fort Collins marks TierOne Bank’s entrance into the competitive Northern Colorado lending market.

Based in Lincoln, Neb., the bank’s holding company, TierOne Corp. (Nasdaq:TONE) was first listed on the nasdaq in October 2002. The listing coincided with TierOne’s launch of its first loan processing office in Colorado Springs. In its first full year of operations, the Colorado Springs office lent an estimated $45 million.

The Fort Collins loan office is TierOne’s fourth loan processing office. A Denver location opened in January 2003, and TierOne’s third loan office opened shortly after in Minneapolis.

“It’s no secret that Colorado’s economy is doing well,´ said Ed Swotek, director of investor relations for TierOne. “You’ve got good growth going on from Fort Collins to Boulder, all the way down to Colorado Springs.”

TierOne follows a long string of Nebraska banks that have developed a Northern Colorado presence in the last decade.

Ogallala, Neb.-based Adams Bank and Trust opened its first Colorado bank in Berthoud in December 2000. Bank of Colorado is owned by Pinnacle Bancorp. Western State Bank in Fort Collins is a branch of Valley Bank and Trust based in Scottsbluff, Neb., and both Union Colony Bank in Greeley and First National Bank in Fort Collins are owned by First National of Nebraska based in Omaha.

” Nebraska banks are looking outside of their borders to expand their horizons, and Colorado is a natural place to look to for that,” Swotek said.

In addition to the four loan offices, TierOne has 57 banks in Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas.

The company’s assets continue to grow with its physical expansion. In 2003, TierOne Corp. more than doubled its net income, going from $15 million in 2002 to $23.8 million for the fiscal year ending Dec. 31, 2002. Loan production for the year totaled $2.3 billion, marking a 38.2 percent increase from 2002.

Kathy Cherroff heads TierOne’s one-person office in Fort Collins. Cherroff, no stranger to Northern Colorado’s business scene, served as CFO for Loveland-based McWhinney Enterprises for seven years.

“We’re still building awareness since we’re a new entrance into Northern Colorado’s lending market,” Cherroff said, adding that her target market includes all of Northern Colorado and southern Wyoming.

The loan production office will focus on commercial real estate loans for new and existing properties, and commercial construction and portfolio financing in the $1-million-to-$20-million range.

“We’re a bit unique in that we’re not doing traditional banking. We’re just doing commercial real estate lending. We’re not seeking their deposits,” Cherroff said.

“This allows our clients to work with us and keep their normal banking relationship.”

While company officials said that TierOne has no long-term goals to enter the Colorado market with full-service banking, the opening of a loan office often signals intent for future expansion.

“It is one strategy to test the market,´ said Richard Fulkerson, Colorado’s bank commissioner. “It’s fairly inexpensive, and if it’s found to be a strong market you can expand fairly quickly without a great deal of expense.”

But Nebraska is certainly not the only state looking to Colorado for new business. Sunflower Bank of Kansas, American Bank and Commerce of Texas, American Bank of Oklahoma and Compass Bank of Alabama have all launched Colorado operations in recent years. Fulkerson attributes some of the influx to the liberalization of bank branching laws since 1997, and some to the state’s economy.

“It is reflective of the perception going around that Colorado’s economy is still relatively strong,” Fulkerson said.

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