Published September 2005

North County Bank
is growing with economy

By John Wolcott
SCBJ Editor

North County Bank, founded in 1999, is still small by comparison to others in the banking community in Snohomish County, President Jack Myles said modestly. Yet the bank’s growth has been so strong that it’s become a significant player in business banking in its market area.

Last June, North County Bank had 1.1 percent of all Snohomish County bank deposit.

“So we have a lot of room to grow,” Myles said. “The bank’s assets were over $100 million at year’s end, up 42 percent over the prior year, and we reached $110 million by the end of March, with deposits up by 38 percent. Net income was up 35 percent after taxes.”

Part of the reason for the bank’s growth, he said, is that businesses and people are increasingly moving north, part of the predicted gain of more than 300,000 residents in the county by 2025, a population growth that could have head counts topping one million people.

As a result, North Snohomish County has a hot real estate and construction market that adds to the bank’s financial growth.

“The housing market is exceptional right now. Lot values are going through the roof,” Myles said. “One subdivision we financed was around $106,000 per lot last year. Now lots are around $160,000. Then you still have to build a house for $240,000. That’s a $400,000 home.”

The bank’s customer count is climbing, too, helped by the merger of medium-sized banks with giant banks, as EverTrust did recently with KeyBank .

“Every merger of bigger banks works to the advantage of community banks like ours,” Myles said. “A recent Small Business Administration survey found that after mergers, large banks do less and less small business lending. That’s where we get business from big banks.

“Also, we have good relations with other small community banks in the county. We do business together and rarely step on each other’s toes.”

He predicts there will be “tons of small businesses” started in north county as it grows and that distributorships and warehouses also will be built, bringing “a lot of people who will be living and working here instead of driving to Seattle every day.”

Also, Boeing sales are up this year and the new 787 launch is going well.

“That is a very big factor in the healthy economy we have right now,” Myles said. “There’s also continued development of the nearby Tulalip Tribes’ Quil Ceda Village shopping center, where a new convention center and hotel will be added adjacent to the Tulalip Casino in coming months.”

The growth in north county has paralleled growth in the north county economy. Since 1999, the original office at the Crossroads shopping center near Arlington Airport has moved into the bank’s first permanent offices at Smokey Point; the bank’s first branch opened in downtown Marysville in a small business complex of apartments and business offices developed by the bank on the same site; and its second branch opened last September in Lake Stevens’ Frontier Village shopping center, where it already has taken in $6 million in deposits.

But now the bank’s headquarters staff is “squeezed for space.” One new loan officer works at the Marysville branch because “there’s no room at Arlington,” Myles said. “That’s why there’s a 2,300-square-foot addition being built on the south end of our Smokey Point headquarters.”

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