$100 Million a Year: The Signature Bank

Each side brought about $325 million in assets to the table less than two years ago. The Signature Bank now has $815 million in assets, 150 associates and eight branches through April.

“If you look back in retrospect, I think it has been very phenomenal growth,” said Beall, one of 17 founding board members with the original Signature Bank.

Beall said The Signature Bank, led by Chairman, CEO and President David Kunze and President Robert Fulp, has done a good job balancing big-bank amenities and small-bank flexibility.

Kunze left an upper-management post at NationsBank to lead Signature Bank from the beginning. He assembled a staff of experienced workers from other Springfield-area banks.

Beall, who left the board March 6 after a board downsizing, said The Signature Bank has outperformed other local startups from the late 1990s.

He seems to be right, though the The Signature Bank’s growth was aided by the merger.

Old Missouri National Bank, for example, began in Springfield in 1999. It now has two branches with about $87 million in assets, according to vice president Matt Kelley. Joan Williams, vice president and corporate secretary for Village Bank, which started in Springfield in 1997, said her institution has four branches and $132 million in assets.

“It’s amazing that a bank that’s been open for eight years can be the 13th largest (Missouri-based bank),” Fulp said of The Signature Bank’s parent company is Springfield-based City Bancorp.

Fulp credited strong economies in Springfield and St. Louis (the bank moved into that market in August 2004 with a loan production office in Clayton) and a capable, ambitious staff.

He also credits The Signature Bank’s active solicitation of business. He called that campaigning “the driving force behind the totals and the growth.” The Signature Bank has a goal to make more than 5,000 prospect calls in 2006.

“Springfield’s a great place to do business,” he said. “There’s still much strength left in this strong economy.”

The Signature Bank isn’t slowing down with age. Fulp said 2006 net income was up 36 percent through April to $3.2 million compared to last year. The Signature Bank’s commercial loan pipeline stands at more than $200 million, up from $175 million a year ago.

The addition in September of prominent financial adviser Nadia Cavner also has given The Signature Bank a boost. She now manages about $350 million in investments from the 2620 E. Sunshine St. branch. Her presence has drawn in about 500 new banking accounts worth $12 million, she said.

Cavner credits the management team for enabling her contributions.

“I really feel like they’ve contributed greatly to my success,” she said about The Signature Bank’s management.

Cavner and her former employer, U.S. Bancorp, are in the midst of a lawsuit and arbitration with the National Association of Securities Dealers.

Cavner left U.S. Bancorp Sept. 2 to start a brokerage division at The Signature Bank. U.S. Bancorp filed a lawsuit six days later, alleging that Cavner and four other former U.S. Bancorp employees illegally used confidential client lists – photocopied on rented copiers by interns and staff at off-site locations – to solicit business away from U.S. Bancorp.

$1 billion goal

Kunze said $1 billion in assets is a three-year goal. That’s likely music to the ears of an exclusive list of about 300 private investors. Kunze said there is a waiting list for stock purchases that is “several pages long.”

The Signature Bank’s stock currently trades between $27.50 and $33. Kunze wouldn’t put the stock’s current price in historic context, only saying, “Since the merger, we have experienced significant stock price value.”

The bank’s growth has led to a $4 million expansion plan for 2006. It’s building new full-service branches in Springfield and O’Fallon and expanding the Clayton loan production office, which has been responsible for $100 million in loan commitments in just two years.

The Signature Bank has long-term plans for a third St. Louis-area location. It’s also eyeing Kansas City and plans to move into that market within five years.

It will break ground on the new O’Fallon location within 45 days and will lease a new space in Clayton in the fall.

The new Springfield branch is actually a consolidation of two existing branches at 2655 S. Campbell Ave. and 3333 E. Battlefield Road.

Those branches will close and the new 3211 E. Battlefield Road location will open in mid-June, about a block west of the current Battlefield Road location.

H Design Group LLC is the Battlefield Road architect. Eoff & Associates Inc. is the general contractor, Mettemeyer Engineering LLC is the structural engineer and Malone Finkle Eckhardt & Collins Inc. is the mechanical engineer.

Statewide Success

The Signature Bank’s rank among Missouri-based banks, as of Dec. 31.

Bank Assets Location Charter Year

1. Commerce Bank $12.6 billion Kansas City 1865

2. First Bank $8.7 billion St. Louis 1906

3. UMB Bank $5.9 billion Kansas City 1913

4. Bank Midwest $3 billion Kansas City 1931

5. SW Bank of St. Louis $2.8 billion St. Louis 1920

6. Great Southern Bank $2 billion Springfield 1923

7. Central Bank Trust $1.4 billion Jefferson City 1902

8. First Natl. Bank of St. Louis $1.2 billion St. Louis 1902

9. Enterprise Bank & Trust $1 billion St. Louis 1988

10. Citizens Bank & Trust $1 billion Chillicothe 1989

11. Boone Co. Natl. Bank $1 billion Columbia 1857

12. Midwest Bank Centre $996 million St. Louis 1906

13. The Signature Bank $815 million Springfield 1997

Note: The Signature Bank’s assets are as of April 30.

Source: The Signature Bank

Breaking the Board

The Signature Bank, under the direction of CEO David Kunze, on March 6 downsized its board of directors from 28 to 13. Jim D. Morris, founding board member and largest stockholder, was cut in the movement for efficiency. The board now consists of three bank officials, and five outside members from each merged bank, The Bank and Signature Bank.

Who’s in:

Ron Baird, Baird, Lightner, Millsap & Kollar PC

Noel Boyd, investments

Nadia Cavner, The Signature Bank

Pat Connell, Connell Insurers Inc.

Robert Fulp, The Signature Bank

David Kunze, The Signature Bank

Larry Lipscomb, investments

Ronald Neville, investments

Mary Beth O’Reilly, Breast Cancer Foundation of the Ozarks

Todd Parnell, retired from The Signature Bank

Brad Squires, Boyd Aluminum

Thomas G. Strong, Strong Law Firm

Bruce Swisshelm, Swisshelm Group Inc.

Who’s out:

Chuck Bachus, Southern Missouri Containers

Bill Beall, Bill Beall Co.

Bob Beine, Republic Ford

Roseann Bentley, Greene County Commissioner

John Carnahan, Carnahan, Evans, Cantwell & Brown PC

Charles Chappell, Chappell’s Tire Inc.

Charles Gallagher, Gallagher Sales Co.

Rich Gelner, Premium Beverage Sales

Chuck Goforth, investments

Dr. Jeffrey Johnson, Urology Surgical Associates

Tommy Keltner, Keltner Enterprises

Jim D. Morris, Morris Oil Co.

James F. Morris, Morris Loan & Investment Co.

Chuck Tice, investments

H.E. Whitener, Trailiner Corp.

Source: Bill Beall and The Signature Bank