|
|
Landmark National Bank (LMRK-OTC: BB) |
|
CEOCFO Current Issue |
This is a printer friendly page! Landmark
National Bank is a well-run community bank with well-known experienced bankers BIO: CEOCFO: Mr. Mandelbaum, what was your vision when you started the bank, and where are you today? Mr.
Mandelbaum: “My background has been primarily community banking. I started out
with Escondido National Bank in the eighties and through that evolution, I ended up at
Scripps Bank, which was a regional bank in
CEOCFO: How does Landmark different today from when you started? Mr.
Mandelbaum: “We take pride in that we are different than the growth factor; we
have grown tremendously from our start-up in August 2002 to over $125 million in assets
today. We recently acquired Legacy Bank, another local community bank in
CEOCFO: How do you decide who joins the Landmark team? Mr. Mandelbaum: “The first thing I look for is an outgoing personality. We like to empower our people to take care of the customer even if it is not in their immediate scope of work. We want them to not just hand the customer over to another staff member but actually taking ownership. Having that type of relationship has really developed referrals.”
CEOCFO: What is the mix between commercial and consumer; would you like see a change? Mr.
Mandelbaum: “Eighty percent of our portfolio is in real estate transactions.
That is not totally unusual being in
CEOCFO: ‘The right bank, the right solution”’, will you explain that? Mr. Mandelbaum: “We have a wide range of products and services, many of them have been packaged together to provide our customers with a financial solution for almost all of their financial and banking needs. We care about how our customers view us – essentially, we are their partner.” CEOCFO: Is much of your banking done online? Mr. Mandelbaum: “Not currently, but we have seen a gradual progression in online banking and I think that is a key to the future that we need to expand on online banking services. We would like to have interactive internet where our customers will be able to go on the internet and apply for a loan and complete the application online, then submit it to us. We are just past our de novo status, so we will start to pursue that.”
CEOCFO: As Landmark is 80% is in real estate, are you concerned about the real estate market? Mr. Mandelbaum: “I would say that we are cautious regarding real estate, fortunately, that 80% is not concentrated in a specific loan type, but within a lot of different areas of real estate such as construction loans, mini perms, and different types of property like industrial, office buildings and small subdivisions. We feel we have diversified our real estate portfolio enough that we are mitigating the risk going forward by knowing our customers well. Many of them are repeat customers that we have had relationships with in the past. The key is knowing our customers and not getting out there on a project that may be out of our area that we are not familiar with.” CEOCFO: Why are customers coming to you instead of other community banks? Mr.
Mandelbaum: “What sets us apart are the staff members that we have. Our
employees have an average of 25 years of banking experience. Most of our staff comes
from community banks, so they understand relationship banking. We also created a client
services department. This is a private banking group where a private banker is assigned to
an individual or business. They have one point of contact with the bank. It is a very
hands-on involvement with the individual or business owner.” CEOCFO: Do your customers take advantage of the variety of services? Mr. Mandelbaum: “Absolutely! We are a relationship bank. Our goal is to provide financials services through a relationship based approach. The key is knowing our customer by asking questions and listening.” CEOCFO: Do you see more branches or further acquisitions in the offing? Mr. Mandelbaum: “We are always looking for opportunities. An option that worked well at Scripps Bank would be to find a banker that is very well known in a community. We would bring this individual into our corporate office, get him or her off the ground and then go back into that community that they are so well known in. We would then build a branch around that individual vs. going into a market place that we know nothing about and not having a seasoned banker. The model works!” CEOCFO: How is the bank doing as a business? Mr. Mandelbaum: “We are excited about our progress. As of September 30th our Assets were 103% over the previous period. Our loans were increased by 105% and deposits were up 83% so we have had a good growth period.”
CEOCFO: Why should potential investors be interested in Landmark National Bank? Mr. Mandelbaum: “If you look at the community banks over a number of years, the dollar amount of investment vs. the return, has been much higher than if you put the money in the stock market. Book values have been 2 or 3 times in the sale of a bank so there are a lot of potential dollars for investors coming in to invest in a community bank over the long-term. Over the long-term they have proven to be economically feasible and supportive to an investor based on that long-term hold.”
CEOCFO:
Why specifically Landmark?
|
“What sets us apart are the staff members that we have. Our employees have an average of 25 years of banking experience. Most of our staff comes from community banks, so they understand relationship banking. We also created a client services department. This is a private banking group where a private banker is assigned to an individual or business. They have one point of contact with the bank. It is a very hands-on involvement with the individual or business owner.” - Rick Mandelbaum |
|
|
To view Releases highlight & left click on the company name!
|
|
