Published September 2003

Banking on service
Low staff turnover helps EvergreenBank
provide a personal touch

Snohomish County Business Journal/JOHN WOLCOTT EvergreenBank President and CEO Gerry Hatler, a promoter of customer service for community banks, began serving as chairman of the Washington State Bankers Association in June.

By John Wolcott
SCBJ Editor

You don’t have to tell bank customers that there’s a lot of turnover in the finance industry. They know it. They see faces changing all the time. That’s why having a stable work force has always been one of the prime attractions any bank can offer its customers. It’s the basis for providing customers with the consistent personal attention they enjoy.

That’s one reason EvergreenBank has been successful, President and CEO Gerry Hatler said.

“The average tenure in the industry is less than two years, but the average for our staff is nine years. And our relationship officers average 15 years here. That’s why our slogan for a number of years has been that we’re ‘the bank where you know your banker and your banker knows you,’” he said.

Every bank works toward that goal — personal service by a seasoned staff — but not all of them achieve it, which is why Hatler’s pride in EvergreenBank is so evident. But it takes more than a friendly environment to make a bank successful; it takes people who know how to handle money well. Evergreen has done that well, too, an achievement reflected in its growth statistics.

Deposits have grown from around $106 million in fiscal year 1998 to nearly $132 million in fiscal year 2002, with gross loans rising from about $77 million to about $122 million during that same time. The bank’s holding company, EvergreenBancorp Inc., reported a net income of $1.24 million for 2001, up from $1.21 million the year before. Earnings in 2002 grew to $1.34 million.

Each year, the bank donates 5 percent of its profits to charities. By June 30 of this year, total assets for the bank reached $174 million, up about 5 percent over the prior year’s tally of $166 million.

Hatler said he was particularly pleased to see solid earnings increases during a time when the Northwest economy was soft, reserves for loan losses were increased and the bank was building and opening its third office — in Bellevue — to join its Seattle headquarters and the Lynnwood office. Later this year, a fourth branch office is due to open in Federal Way.

“Our philosophy is to not have a broad network of offices but to open strategically located offices so we can deal with the (local) marketplace. But we’re always looking for new expansion opportunities or expanded financial services,” Hatler said.

He said he’s particularly pleased with the growth of the 3-year-old Lynnwood office, located at 2502 196th St. SW, where business has increased 28 percent, 37 percent and 28 percent in the three consecutive years.

“That’s astounding growth at a time when the marketplace wasn’t growing at that rate,” he said.

Overall, he said, 80 percent of the bank’s deposits belong to consumers and 20 percent to businesses, but 80 percent of the loans are to businesses.

The bank’s history began with a Seattle math and journalism teacher, Robert J. Handy, who recognized the value of the state’s new legislation allowing credit unions in 1933 as the country was trying to recover from the depression years.

In 1936, he founded the Seattle Teachers Credit Union, now the School Employees Credit Union of Washington. Working as a general insurance agent in a friend’s business, he sold auto insurance to teachers who came to the credit union for new car loans, a sideline that sparked his founding in 1949 of Public Employees Mutual Insurance Co. to offer residential fire and burglary insurance plus automobile policies.

From that venture grew PEMCO, the Public Employees Mutual Casualty Co., formed in 1950, adding PEMCO Life Insurance Co. in 1963 to serve credit union members.

In 1971, the enterprising Handy opened Teachers State Bank to serve the credit union and insurance companies and their customers. In 1980, to reflect its broader service audience, the bank dropped the “teachers” image and changed its name to EvergreenBank.

Today, its business banking menu offers courier banking, online banking and a variety of cash management, checking, savings and commercial loan services.

Management at the bank includes Hatler; Executive Vice President and Chief Credit Officer Susan Gates, formerly with KeyBank; and Bill Filer, senior president and chief financial officer.

Its stock is traded on the Over-The-Counter market under the EVGG symbol.

For more information on EvergreenBank, call 800-331-9709 or go online to www.evergreenbank.com.

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