Plenty of information available about banks

With so many banks to choose from, shopping for the right one can become a huge challenge.

Rate shopping is a popular method, especially in a customer’s market such as Northern Colorado. However, because of the local competition rates are often changing, it becomes difficult to track down the best one with the best service.

With as many banks as there are in the region, a game of “throw-a-dart-at-the-map” would probably yield a branch. But for anyone who prefers to know more about his or her bank, there are a number of information tools available.

As an industry, banking is required to report on its condition on a fairly regular basis, to multiple regulators. Depending on how they are chartered, banks are responsible to either the state division of banking or the Federal Reserve, and all banks are regulated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

The FDIC measures everything from the quality of assets held to the community involvement of insured institutions. The latter became a requirement of banks in 1977 when Congress passed the Community Reinvestment Act. The purpose of the CRA is to ensure that institutions meet the credit needs of the entire community in which they operate – not just the high-end customer.

While CRA ratings offer little insight on an institution’s rates, it does give the customer a good sense of how it participates in the community. In the FDIC’s most recent round of examinations, Greeley-based New Frontier Bank earned a satisfactory rating. Since 2002, the FDIC has examined and assigned satisfactory scores to Advantage Bank, Cache Bank and Trust, Home State Bank and New West Bank.  

According to the FDIC, the only Northern Colorado bank to receive an outstanding rating – the highest available – was FirstBank of Greeley in 2003.

The CRA rating exam occurs at Northern Colorado banks only sporadically. The FDIC Web site only lists the previously mentioned banks as having been examined.

For those who are more concerned with financial soundness, the FDIC also posts each bank’s call reports, which contain detailed information on assets, loans, deposits, profits and more. But interpreting the detailed reports can prove to be quite a task. Luckily, there are companies and organizations that interpret the data into simple ratings systems.

Bauer Financial Inc. provides quarterly “Star Ratings.” The Bauer system takes into account information such as assets, capital, risk and income and assigns each institution a number of stars based on its performance. One star is the lowest rating, five is the highest and Bauer says it recommends all four- and five-star banks.

In the first quarter report on Colorado-based banks, First National Bank of Estes Park, New West Bank were the Northern Colorado banks that received five-star ratings. Five stars, according to Bauer, is superior. All other Northern Colorado banks received a four-star rating – excellent – except Cache Bank and Trust, which had three and a half stars for a rating of good.

Not so fast

With commercial and residential development in Loveland continuing to explode, it’s no wonder that many banks are entering the market or expanding in it. However, not all locations are getting scooped up.

Late last year, Boulder-based Tebo Development announced that it would level the former 4B’s restaurant building on Garfield Avenue, also known as U.S. Highway 287, to make way for a bank building with retail space. It would be the eighth bank in a one-mile stretch in north Loveland.

Plans called for the new development to include a 3,500-square-foot bank branch with two drive-up lanes, a 5,500-square-foot retail building and 33 parking spaces, according to Al Hauser, the architect on the project.

At the time, developer Stephen Tebo indicated that the bank branch doesn’t have a tenant yet, but some in the industry guessed that it might be Washington Mutual, which doesn’t have a Loveland branch.

Tebo Development found its tenants, but the project is now on hold.

“We were designing the space for a bank and a video store, and both put a hold on their expansion plans,´ said Tebo in an e-mail to the Business Report.

Tebo indicated that the company was still looking for tenants for a build-to-suit, so there is no timeframe for construction to begin.

Around the same time that Tebo Development was planning to build a bank site, Fort Collins-based First National Bank was formulating plans of its own – to build its second Loveland branch.

The branch is now constructed at Centerra’s High Plains Neighborhood Center, on the northwest corner of Boyd Lake Avenue and U.S. Highway 34. However, the bank is a bit behind schedule for its opening.

Early in the process, the predicted open date was mid-summer and even as early as July. However, the bank’s grand opening is now slated for Sept. 30 with a soft opening in mid-September. The reason for the slight delay?

“I think the floor took us back a little,” explained Fred Jacobs, director of marketing for the bank.

That would be the terrazzo floor that the bank chose to greet its customers. A terrazzo floor is typically made by installing marble or stone chips in mortar then grinding and buffing it into a shiny, level surface.

Kristen S. Bastian covers the banking industry for the Northern Colorado Business Report. She can be reached at (970) 221-5400, ext. 219 or [email protected].

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