Missouri State Bank and Trust Company ...Bank enters city's 'guerilla warfare market'

by Paul Flemming

SBJ Staff

A St. Louis bank born out of an earlier era of consolidation is now coming to Springfield because of the latest round of mergers.

Missouri State Bank and Trust Company will open a branch at 321 W. Battlefield in the former Union Planters building at that site. Jim Riggins, a former officer with Union Planters here, will be president of the local entity.

The 30-year-old Missouri State Bank has $140 million in assets, up from $67 million on Sept. 30, 1996. Officials with the bank said the bank's balance sheet showed 68 percent growth in 1997.

James A. Saitz, chairman and president of Missouri State Bank, said opening a branch in Springfield reflects the same strategies that have brought about that growth. He said the involvement of Riggins, with whom Seitz has worked previously, was key. Opening the Springfield

branch was a 2 1/2-year process, he said.

"Like any other expansion effort, the No. 1 thing we look for first is people," Saitz said.

Riggins has set up a board of directors for the Springfield operation that includes Henry Brandt, Carol D. Jones, Carolyn S. Pinegar, Don Wessel and Jim R. Youngblood. Riggins said others will be added.

In addition, the bank has customers with business in Springfield, and serving those "cross-city business interests" will benefit both Missouri State and its clients. The Springfield market itself was also attractive.

Saitz said his bank is commercially oriented, serving non-publicly traded companies, owner-operated businesses, entrepreneurs and vendors to those companies. Saitz noted that Springfield has the state's highest concentration of employers with fewer than 100 employees. Taking advantage of opportunities in the market caused by recent mergers is Missouri State's aim.

"All of us banks are trying to steal a disproportionate share of a shrinking market," Saitz said. "Springfield is a consolidating market. We plan to pick up those lost and disinherited souls. It's a guerilla warfare market."

Missouri State Bank and Trust Company has its own history in the mergers of the last few years, as well as those of 30 years ago. Saitz said the bank's charter was granted by state regulators after a class-action suit was filed by a group of downtown St. Louis businesspeople concerned that mergers taking place at that time would make banks less responsive to smaller customers.

Recent history has included a number of turns for the company. Four years ago, a group of 80 investors, led by Saitz, purchased the bank. In the fourth quarter of 1996, the bank was acquired by Roosevelt Financial Group, the holding company for the large St. Louis-based thrift. Saitz said Roosevelt kept Missouri State as a separate subsidiary to retain its commercial bank charter.

The Roosevelt deal closed in 1997, and 17 days later, the acquisition of Roosevelt by Mercantile was announced. A group of 93 investors, much the same group as bought the bank in 1993, then reacquired the bank in July 1997.

All that action has resulted in a determination to "take this community bank to the next dimension," Saitz said. Since the reacquisition, the bank's staff has doubled, and three new locations, including the Springfield branch, are starting up. The bank employs about 50 overall, Saitz said, and will have eight to 10 staff members in Springfield.

"You have to call us contrarians," Saitz said. "We're actually investing in people, gathering new shareholders" and adding full-service branch buildings.

Riggins said the first floor of the 12,000-square-foot Battlefield building will be completely remodeled and has prospects in place for leasing the second floor. "It's always been a great location," Riggins said of the structure built by Savings of America in 1986. A predecessor of Union Planters bought the building in 1983. When Union Planters merged with 1st Savings Bank, the building became redundant with a 1st Savings location across Campbell Avenue.

That competitor across the street is indicative of the Springfield market. "No question it will continue to be a very competitive market," Saitz said. "Who knows who will be purchased tomorrow. We're one merger away from a phenomenal marketplace."

In a competitive environment, Saitz said Missouri State is pursuing a strategic diversity plan, looking at "like-kind business lines" that would complement its current business. Saitz mentioned capital leasing, boutique mortgage services, insurance and wealth management "a 21st century way to describe trust services" as possible areas to diversify.

He said Missouri State would remain focused on its commercial banking but would offer these retail banking services to its commercial customers.

"The banking industry will change ever more drastically in the next three to five years," Saitz said.

INSET CAPTION:

'All of us banks are trying to steal a disproportionate

share of a shrinking market.'

Jim Saitz

Missouri State[[In-content Ad]]