Notes, news and views on community banking

Northwestern Financial Review, May 1-May 14, 2004

Quad Cities bank marks 100 years of growth

Metrobank of East Moline, Ill., commemorated 100 years of service earlier this year. Chartered under the name of State Bank of East Moline on January 19, 1904, the bank has grown with the population on the east side of Rock Island County.

Today, Metrobank continues to be a highly successful, locally-owned community bank. The bank has prospered and grown to 18 full-service offices with more than 50 automatic teller machines in northwestern Illinois and eastern Iowa. The No. 1 goal of the bank and its board of directors is to remain a local bank; one committed to its customers and the communities it serves.

The bank opened with $25,000 in assets and shared a one-room building with a neighborhood land company. After decades of steady growth, it opened its first branch in 1979 in Moline. Within a decade and a half, Metrobank added four new branches in the Quad Cities.

In 1987, the name Metrobank was adopted as branch banking became an important part of the bank's expansion plan. By the later part of the 1990s, two more branches were added; one being in a major supermarket.

Establishing itself as a national bank, Metrobank then crossed the Mississippi River to form its first Iowa branch in the heart of Davenport on Kimberly Road. Seeing additional potential in Davenport, another branch was added.

In the later part of 2001, Metrobank added geographic and lending diversity when it acquired seven branches in a predominantly rural area to the north of the Quad Cities. Areas where Metrobank is present now include towns around Preston, Iowa and Mount Carroll, Ill. The latest branch office to open was on March 25, 2002, in Morrison, Ill.

To strengthen the bank's commitment to remaining local, Metrobank formed an Employee Stock Ownership Plan in 1990. Employees numbering 245 are now the largest block of stockholders. Gary Andersen is president of the bank, which today has assets exceeding $500 million.

Nebraska bank digs deep for football field

NebraskaLand National Bank, North Platte, Neb., recently pledged $250,000 toward the $750,000 it is estimated to cost to install artificial turf in the football stadium at North Platte's High School. Mike Jacobsen, president and CEO of the $109 million bank, announcing the pledge in March said, "With this donation, we can help make it possible for the field to be used year round for other extra-curricular activities."

As the grass field at Bauer Stadium, adjacent to the school, reached the point of needing to be replaced, a committee was formed to examine the cost of replacing the field with real grass versus field turf. Initially, new grass would cost half the amount of the estimate for artificial turf. Upon further investigation, however, the committee learned that maintenance costs for new sod would be 10 times higher than with turf, the new sod would need to rest for a full year before being played on, and the grass would be able to support only 15 to 20 events per year. The artificial turf field will provide opportunities for a wide variety of events on the field, such as band competitions, soccer and football for many age levels, physical education classes and other year-round community events. "This is a long-term solution for the high school," Jacobsen said.

In exchange for the donation, NebraskaLand National Bank secured a prominent position on the stadium scoreboard to advertise its services for the next 15 years. The bank also will provide the stadium concession stand with popcorn bags stamped with its name.

The North Platte school board will cover the final $250,000 of the turf's cost if the fundraising committee can secure another $250,000 in donations. The bank will amortize the donation over 15 years.

Illinois bank spreads goodwill to families

A new business partnership between First Community Bank of Elgin, Ill., and Illinois' second-largest school district recently made a big difference in the lives of needy children. Last summer, the $123 million bank created a partnership with U-46, which serves 39,000 students, and quickly launched its first initiative: Community of Readers. The program's goal was to insure that elementary-aged children, no matter their economic status, had books available in their own home.

Karen DeBack, a six-year employee at the bank, conceived the idea while reminiscing with friends about the joys of reading as a child. "My family was financially challenged but my parents always made sure there were plenty of books in our home," she said. That's not always the case today, she said.

DeBack and bank Marketing Director Stephen Stark worked out First Community Bank's role in the partnership with the school district's Coordinator of Grants and School/ Business Partnerships, Karen Fox. The bank would launch a community-wide collection of new or gently-used books appropriate for children age 5 through 12. Once the books were collected, the district would manage distribution through programs such as its "Parents as Teachers" program.