Published March 2004

Wells Fargo starts
Native American
service group

By Kimberly Hilden
SCBJ Assistant Editor

Wells Fargo is no stranger to banking in Indian Country, having lent more than $1 billion to tribes and their members through its targeted programs alone. Now, with the rollout of its Native American banking services group, the San Francisco-based company hopes to capture even more of that market.

In January, Wells Fargo began placing relationship managers specializing in Native American financial services in four key regional centers: the Midwest, Southern California, the Southwest and the Pacific Northwest, said Chandra Hampson, relationship manager for the Pacific Northwest.

By working with Wells Fargo’s gaming, energy, agricultural and community banking divisions, these new relationship managers will help Native American communities and individuals connect with the services they need, said Hampson, who began working out of her Bellevue office in early February.

“Services run the full gamut,” she said. “There are specialized programs in terms of HUD, mortgage programs and also the new SBA-BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) guarantied loans. That’s part of what we will be facilitating: commercial services as well as individual services.”

Heading up the new services group nationwide is Steve Stallings, a senior vice president for Wells Fargo as well as a member of the Rincon Band of San Lusieno Mission Indians.

“Wells Fargo is committed to supporting tribal nations by providing financial services to help them plan for the future,” he said in a prepared statement. “Over the years we’ve seen major positive changes in the economic circumstances for Native Americans as successful gaming operations generate jobs and new business development.

“We have the knowledge and experience to help these new businesses grow and prosper,” said Stallings, noting that Wells Fargo provides capital and financial services to more than 150 tribal nations across the country.

According to information released through the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, Wells Fargo ranked second nationally in HMDA market share in lending to Native Americans and Alaskan Natives in 2002, at 8.2 percent. Wells Fargo also ranked second in Washington state, claiming 12.5 percent HMDA market share.

The banking company also has 17 branches on Indian reservations nationwide.

“In terms of expertise, we’ve got quite a long history of lending in Indian Country. Because of (work done through) our gaming division, we’re comfortable with all the legal issues involved,” said Hampson, herself a former member of that division.

Issues such as tribal sovereignty, which can prevent a bank from taking the usual legal recourse should a tribe default on a loan, she noted.

“When you’re lending to another sovereign entity, it’s really a matter of getting comfortable with the fact that there is sovereignty,” Hampson said, adding that arbitration has become an extremely effective tool in the face of possible loan default.

“Banks are getting very comfortable with the relationship,” she said.

In her new role, Hampson will be a combination lender and business development officer. She has the authority to underwrite loans and also the know-how to help clients navigate through the services and programs offered throughout the bank.

“If a tribal chairman were to call me, it’s possible that the conversation would range from their own personal needs, or maybe they want to talk to me about a commercial loan or other services for a tribal business enterprise,” she said.

Hampson said she plans to initially focus her time and energy on Washington and Oregon, where Wells Fargo already has Native American clients, but also will make herself available to the entire Pacific Northwest, including Montana, Idaho and Alaska.

For more information on Wells Fargo’s Native American banking services group, call Hampson at 425-450-8057 or send e-mail to hampsocn@wellsfargo.com.

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