Evans discusses new role at state's largest independent bank

Northwestern Financial Review, Sep 19, 1998 by Bengtson, Tom

Lynn R. Evans and 16 colleagues from the old MidAmerica Bank are working along with the rest of the staff of Richfield Bank & Trust Co., to make the state's largest independent bank the top middle-market business bank in the area.

In a unique move, the $500 million Richfield Bank & Trust Co., hired 17 people from MidAmerica who joined the bank on July 23. The employees were leaving MidAmerica in the wake of Norwest Corp.'s purchase of the downtown St. Paul institution.

Many, who turned down offers to stay with the new owner, were hired by Evans only months earlier to jumpstart the then-floundering MidAmerica. Evans said he worked hard to put together a good team at Mid America and is thrilled that much of the team remains intact at Richfield Bank & Trust Co. For Richfield Bank & Trust, the mass hiring was a cost-effective way to grow. The bank, which wanted to buy Park National Bank in St. Louis Park, Minn., two years ago but came up short in the bidding to eventual acquirer United Community Bancshares of Eagan, Minn., is definitely interested in growth.

Evans said that despite the bank's distinctly local name, it is interested in serving the entire Twin Cities. New branches, including offices in downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul, Evans said, are likely down the road. The bank already has branches in Bloomington/Eden Prairie, Burnsville, Edina and Chanhassen.

Many of the new employees developed a strong client list while working at MidAmerica and have brought that business to Richfield Bank & Trust Co. With the new hires, Richfield is able to start three new lines of business: private capital markets, which will be headed by Katie Kelley; commercial real estate, led by Mark Johnson; and SBA lending, led by Mark Hoiland. Each is a MidAmerica transplant. Evans said the bank hopes to eventually obtain status as an SBA preferred lender.

"In order to be good at SBA lending, you need people who know what the SBA is," Evans explained. "We have that." The commercial real estate business, Evans said, is designed to appeal to high-end contractors.

Still, the bank is committed to its strong retail business, Evans said. "At a very large organization, they define their businesses into boxes," Evans explained. "If you as a customer don't fit into one of these boxes, you are out of luck. The more unique you are, the more unique services you may need. We want to service those unique customers.

"I cannot tell you how many customers don't want to do business with a large bank; they don't want to be sold products they don't need," Evans said.

"You can count the number of community banks in the Twin Cities that can truly serve the middle market customer on one hand," Evans said. Defining middle market customers as businesses with $5 million to $100 million in annual revenue, Evans said Richfield Bank and Trust Co., wants to be a leader serving these clients.

Evans said he expects community bank service to become even more attractive in light of Norwest's merger with Wells Fargo. In order to appease shareholders, Evans predicted Wells Fargo will aggressively raise fees, which will cause many customers to look elsewhere for banking services.

Consolidation provides an opportunity for the private banking services that Kelley will be offering, Evans said. "We have loan officers who can do a boat or car loan, but they can also do commercial real estate loans." Other banks wouldn't think of offering this level of flexibility, Evans said. At other banks, Evans said, customers would need to see separate lending officers to obtain this variety of services.

Evans, who has made his home in the Twin Cities after moving here from Portland, Ore., to join the old American National Bank in St. Paul in 1991, said he is looking forward to a longterm business association with Richfield Bank & Trust Co.