Bank takes famous name, poises for future

James York is president and chief executive officer of Valley Bank of Nevada, a small community bank in North Las Vegas focused on serving small and midsized businesses.

York, a career banker, helped organize the bank six years ago as Bank of North Las Vegas, when the region's economy was still robust and new-home developments were attracting residents and businesses to Las Vegas.

But York and James Blood, one of the bank's founding partners and its executive vice president and chief credit officer, have endured a turbulent period that saw the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. issued a consent order in June 2010 and the bank tried to raise $5 million in new capital by offering more than 1.66 million shares priced at $3 per share.

Having been through the worst of the economic downturn, York said he is confident in the region's recovery and that the bank is well on its way to raising the $5 million to raise its capital-ratio to 9 percent.

"When times got tough around here, we knew we would survive," York said.

He said the bank's capital-ratio is now at 7.7 percent, and bank executives are working with the FDIC to improve its capital ratio. They report to regulators on the bank's health every 90 days.

"Of the $5 million offer, we raised $2 million last year," York said. "We recently opened up the offering to raise the rest of the capital. We've had a good response and have (received) close to
$1 million in commitments."

He said the bank decided to delay its April 15 purchase of a second branch in Henderson. York said he expects to open the 6,000-square-foot office at Sunset Road and Green Valley Parkway in the first quarter of 2013. He said the bank would use a portion of the $5 million for the Henderson branch.

"We are looking at opening one (branch) and getting it profitable," York said. "We have plans for Henderson, but we are also looking at Summerlin. I think our master plan includes developing a headquarters in downtown Las Vegas."

Eventually, Valley Bank of Nevada will look to return to Carson City, he said.

Today, the bank has $83.3 million in assets and $76.7 million in deposits.

While the institution started by York and Blood and four other local business owners is only 6 years old, its current name is familiar to longtime Nevadans.

"Once we came through this thing, we figured no matter how bad it gets, let's be aggressive and have some fun," York said. "Let's bring the Valley Bank of Nevada name back, one client at a time."

York tapped Dick Taggart, who was recently nominated as a bank director. He was senior vice president of bank operations and automation for the old Valley Bank of Nevada and was with the bank for more than 25 years before it was acquired by Bank of America in 1992 for about $380.5 million.

The Bank of North Las Vegas name disappeared in August.

"In six months, we have had more brand recognition from the Valley Bank of Nevada name than we did in six years as Bank of North Las Vegas," York said. "We attribute that to the good will and history that comes with that name."

Valley Bank of Nevada began life in 1954 as the Las Vegas Bank, in a building on East Charleston Boulevard adjacent to the Huntridge Theater, Taggart said.

Under the direction of E. Parry Thomas and his late business partner, Jerome "Jerry" Mack, Valley Bank is credited with helping build modern Las Vegas by lending to casinos at a time when others considered it too risky.

One of the bank's early casino loans was to Milton Prell for the Sahara in 1955. The $750,000 enabled Prell to build the Conga Room, 120 hotel rooms and make other improvements to the legendary hotel at the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Sahara Avenue.

"Our decision to lend to the gaming industry helped this community grow to where it is today," Blood said. "A lot of other community banks lent to local businesses, which we also did. But our connection to gaming was very instrument in the growth of Las Vegas."

The Thomas & Mack Center at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas was named in honor of the bank's original founders, and York said his bank took over the corporate sponsorship of the arena last year.

Valley Bank of Nevada was created in 1968 with the merger of the Bank of Las Vegas and Valley Bank of Reno. At that time, Reno was a much larger city than Las Vegas, Taggart said.

Taggart said his only regret was he "liked working for Valley Bank of Nevada" and just couldn't bring himself "to work for a trillion-dollar bank," after it was sold to Bank of America.

Blood spent 19 years with the original Valley Bank, rising to vice president in charge of retail commercial lending.

"I think we did some really wonderful things," Blood said. "I think we cared about the community instead of being a bank within the community."

The Valley Bank name was revived in 1998, when Barry Hulin opened a branch in Henderson. Community Bank acquired the second Valley Bank in 2006. With the name again available, York snapped it up.

"My reaction was 'I think that would be brilliant ... I wonder about the logo,' " Taggart said.

Around 1980, Valley Bank retained graphic artist Saul Bass, who had worked with a number of famous film directors, including Alfred Hitchcock and Martin Scorsese, and whose corporate logo are still used by United Airlines, Minolta and AT&T. For Valley Bank of Nevada, Bass created a logo depicting the sun rising over the mountains that form the Las Vegas Valley.

Taggart said he was happy the old logo has been revived, and that the name change pays tribute to Valley Bank's past glory.

"Parry Thomas and Jerry Mack were very good at making decisions at the right time," Taggart said of the sale to Bank of America. "Even though it was heartbreaking for some of us to lose Valley Bank, that attachment we all had to the bank, I would like to believe has a lot to do with the fact that bank still has name recognition in this valley some 20 years later."

Blood, agreed, but said bringing back Valley Bank was also about helping to create a vibrant and successful roster of community banks in Southern Nevada.

"Everyone of our community banks here needs to survive, because we are the caretakers of this community," Blood said. "Bank of America or Wells Fargo can't do it. They are fantastic at what they do, but the community bank is what makes a community whole."

Contact reporter Chris Sieroty at
csieroty@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893.