Sun West Bank ready for move

Sun West Bank will move into its new northern Nevada regional office in south Reno during the next couple of weeks, but the high-profile location won't mark a change in the bank's strategy.

Workers last week were putting finishing touches on the bank's new quarters in the Mountain View Corporate Center at Kietzke and Del Monte Lanes.

The location will provide exposure to motorists on Highway 395.

"It's going to give us a little more top-of-mind," John Shively,

executive vice president of northern Nevada Banking for Sun West.

The bank, which has been operating from a branch office at the corner of Mill Street and Corporate Boulevard since entering the market a little more than three years ago, will keep its focus on business customers.

That may change over time as the company opens more northern Nevada locations and woos more consumer business, said Shively.

"As we get more branches, we'll get more active in the consumer side," Shively said.

Sun West will maintain the Mill Street branch after it opens the south- Reno office.

Over time, the company sees the potential for four branches in Reno and Sparks, Shively said, with future growth possible in Carson City and Douglas County.

In the meantime, the bank will keep its focus on small and medium-sized businesses.

The Reno operation can handle loans up to $3.5 million on its own, and Shively said the biggest loan it handled was about $8 million with participation from other financial institutions.

About 65 percent of the bank's business lending in northern Nevada is traditional commercial loans lines of credit, equipment loans and the like and the remainder is real-estate related.

Shively said Sun West, which was launched in 1998 in Las Vegas by former investors and managers of Sun State Bank, believes its operations in northern and southern Nevada provide diversity in its portfolio.

The bank also targets businesses that have operations in both ends of the state.

With the new south-Reno office, Sun West Bank will employ 12 people in its northern Nevada operation.