Year-old bank shifts focus

When veteran Reno banker Jack Prescott set out last year to establish a new presence for Irwin Union Bank in the market, he knew exactly how he'd build the bank: A steady flow of commercial real estate loans.

But just as he was opening the doors of the new bank in south Reno, the real estate market went on the skids.

While Irwin Union still is making some commercial real estate loans in the Reno area, Prescott says the bank's team has been forced to widen its sights.

That, he says, is a good thing as it's provided the new bank with a diverse loan portfolio.

"Just like golf, this is a game of adjustments," Prescott says.

Among the bank's adjustments: Looking for potential loan customers in industries that are relatively immune from economic swings.

That's led to good business in lending to healthcare companies. Construction-related companies such as plumbers, who are focused on maintenance rather than new building, have been another target of the bank.

Other segments targeted by Irwin Union's lenders in Reno are thriving despite changes in the economy. Attorneys, Prescott says, have prospered as the economy has soured and provide an attractive market. Suppliers to mining companies engineering firms, laboratories and the like are going gangbusters with gold prices edging toward $1,000 an ounce.

Manufacturing companies with substantial export trade are booming as the weak dollar gives them a substantial advantage, and Prescott says some seek loans to finance expansion.

The bank's lenders prospect for business through a disciplined round of membership in business organizations and appearances at business networking events.

While adjusting its marketing strategy for lending, Irwin Union's new operation in Reno also has been engaged in an industry-wide dogfight for deposits in the past year.

Prescott's team developed bundled approaches in which the bank provides better pricing for businesses that bring a variety of banking business equipment loans, lines of credit, checking deposits to Irwin Union.

While the bank doesn't focus on consumers, some of those banking bundles include discounts on banking services for employees of business customers.

The effort, Prescott says, has been successful if slow.

"Stuff always takes longer than you think," he says.

Because of its focus on business customers who rely on courier services and visits by bank officers, Irwin

Union hasn't built much of a staff at the Reno bank. Seven people work at the Reno office.

"With technology, we don't need as much staff to deliver the same level of service," Prescott says.

Before launching the Reno operation of Irwin Union, Prescott was regional president for U.S. Bank in northern Nevada and worked in retail and commercial banking with First Interstate Bank and Sierra Bank.

If he's not busy enough with overseeing the new bank, Prescott also is chairman of the executive committee of the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada.