Published March 2004

Prime Pacific lays foundation for growth

By Kimberly Hilden
SCBJ Assistant Editor

Sitting behind his desk at the headquarters of Prime Pacific Bank, Glenn Deutsch recently contemplated the foundation built in 2003 to secure the bank’s future success.

Snohomish County Business Journal/ KIMBERLY HILDEN Prime Pacific Bank has budgeted for 30 percent growth in 2004, said Glenn Deutsch, president and chief executive of the Lynnwood-based bank.

In the past year, Deutsch, formerly the executive vice president, was promoted to president and chief executive of the bank and its holding company, Prime Pacific Financial Services Inc., following the retirement of Gary Hopper, who remains on the board.

A new management team was formed with the appointment of Don Kiser to senior vice president and chief financial officer of the bank and Eric Carlsen to executive vice president and chief credit officer.

Two new commercial loan officers, Dan Givens and Chuck Dodd, were added, bringing more than 50 years of banking experience to a staff that now numbers 18.

And, perhaps most importantly, the federally chartered bank has implemented a number of policy and procedural changes to come into compliance with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, its primary regulator.

In June 2002, the agency, following a routine bank examination, placed a restriction of 5 percent annual loan growth on the bank until it had addressed policies and procedures relating to its asset/liability management, allowance for loan and lease losses, internal controls and risk management, among other things.

This past December, the bank received notice that it had been released from the formal letter of agreement — and the growth restriction, Deutsch said, adding that Prime Pacific is primed to fuel that growth thanks to an additional $5.1 million in capital raised through a private placement offering in 2003.

Then there’s the bank’s new Web site, www.primepacificbank.com, which is scheduled to make its debut in April, complete with an Internet-based cash-management system.

“There’s a lot to be excited about,” he said.

Not the least of which are the locations of its two bank branches, locations that promise future growth in business activity.

In late 2000, Prime Pacific opened its second branch in Kenmore. The timing “was a little early for us,” but the opportunity to buy a building that formerly housed another bank was too good to pass up, Deutsch said.

Since then, the city of Kenmore has focused on developing its downtown core. In April 2003, the city adopted a plan to spur private investment and redevelopment of its downtown. Four months later, the city purchased the Kenmore Village Shopping Center for a possible public/private project in the future.

“The city of Kenmore is really proactive in bringing in more businesses,” Deutsch said.

The same can be said for Lynnwood, which is in the midst of a development renaissance, with an economic action plan, expansion of Alderwood Mall, construction of a convention center and creation of a downtown.

“Are we in a good location or what?” said Deutsch, whose branch at 4710 196th St. SW has Prime Pacific poised to ride Lynnwood’s future wave of growth.

The bank also figures it is in a good position to serve businesses fed up with the banking industry’s “merger mania.”

“Everybody has heard the spiel about decisions being made locally at community banks, but it’s the truth. That’s important to business owners,” Deutsch said.

Since its founding in 1995, Prime Pacific has catered to the business community, offering merchant credit-card processing with direct deposit for businesses, traditional business and SBA loans as well as a courier service for its business customers.

The bank’s loan portfolio has grown to mirror that market interest over time, with commercial and commercial real estate loans comprising 76 percent of Prime Pacific’s loan portfolio in 1997, 92 percent in 2001 and as much as 95 percent of its portfolio today, Deutsch said.

Getting that business hasn’t meant competing against other community banks, but “picking up the scraps” that the bigger banks leave behind — and offering the one-on-one service that smaller banks are made for, he said.

“Business owners don’t like the idea of not having someone to talk to, to have a continued relationship with. It’s really a business of building relationships, not so much transactions,” he said.

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