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West Coast Bancorp (OR)
is measured by deposit market share as the largest community bank in the
Portland/Vancouver area
Financial
Regional – Pacific Banks
(WCBO-NASDAQ)
West Coast Bancorp (OR)
5335 Meadows Road – Suite 201
Lake Oswego, OR 97035
Phone: 503.598.3241
Robert D. Sznewajs
Chief Executive Officer
Executive Biography:
Bob Sznewajs was named President and CEO of West Coast Bancorp in January 2000 after
serving as Vice Chairman at U.S. Bancorp. Bob has more than 30 years of experience in the
banking industry.
Sznewajs earned a master’s of business administration in finance and a bachelor of
science in accounting from the University of Detroit, and is a certified public
accountant.
Bob’s professional affiliations include Board of
Directors of the Portland Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Oregon
Bankers Association Board of Directors (OBA), Christie School Board of Directors, Portland
United Way Campaign Cabinet Member, Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) Board of
Directors and Coinstar Board of Directors.
As President of West Coast Bank, Bob Sznewajs
oversees more than 750 employees and 52 branches throughout Oregon and Washington.
Company Profile:
West Coast Bancorp, one of Oregon Business Magazine’s 100 Best Companies to
Work For in 2004 and 2005, is a Northwest bank holding company with $1.9 billion in
assets, operating 52 offices in Oregon and Washington. The company combines the
sophisticated products and expertise of larger banks with the local decision making,
market knowledge and customer service of a community bank. For more information,
visit the company web site at www.wcb.com.
West Coast Bank has built a solid community banking
foundation by offering exceptional customer service, delivered by local employees who care
about customers and about their communities. By valuing service above all else, they have
created a leading Pacific Northwest community bank, while maintaining the local focus that
customers rely on.
Interview conducted by:
Lynn Fosse, Senior Editor
CEOCFO
December 15,
2005
CEOCFO: Mr. Sznewajs, it
has been about two years since we have spoken with you. How has West Coast Bank changed?
Mr. Sznewajs: “Our financial performance has shown
steady improvement over the last several years. Our strategy is still very much the same
in terms of growing our business organically. We have had great success in growing our
business in the Portland/Vancouver area, and we are now the largest community bank in the
Portland/Vancouver area as measured by deposit market share. This was a very important
achievement for us because it affirms our strategy and also the success we have had
implementing the strategy.”
CEOCFO: I understand
your cornerstone is ‘exceptional customer service and local decision-making’.
How do those points come into play for you?
Mr. Sznewajs: “Those qualities are built around a trust
that the bank and individual line managers have with their customers. They also revolve
around our ability to deliver to the customer an experience that they feel good about,
especially on the commercial banking side.”
CEOCFO: Will you give us
an example of what someone would find in the commercial side coming to West Coast Bank
that they might not get at another bank?
Mr. Sznewajs: “We recently conducted a survey of our
commercial customers and asked them to give us feedback from different areas of the bank
with which they interfaced. Our relationship officers received high marks for the
interactions they had with the customers. The branch network is the other area of
interaction with customers. The customers expressed extremely high satisfaction with the
branch network and the type of service they receive from the bank on a day-to-day basis.
Commercial customers view the relationship as multi-dimensional because they mainly deal
with the credit officer relative to the high-level things associated to their
relationship— their lines of credit, borrowing needs or buying a new building. But
they also look at the relationship with the bank through their day-to-day interactions
with the branch—making their deposits and solving their problems. Our recent customer
survey showed very good marks in both areas.”
CEOCFO: How do you
encourage the customer to use more of your services?
Mr. Sznewajs: “The best way to develop a fuller
relationship with the customer is to explain to them the services that we have and, more
importantly, to understand their needs. Our premise of selling to customers is based upon
their needs and not upon a set of products that we have. We talk with customers to
understand what their needs are— a commercial credit card, a business debit card or
treasury management services, etc. By educating our people about the needs of the customer
and then educating the customer about our products and services, we generally determine if
there is a fit or not. The way we do this is through education and building a
relationship.”
CEOCFO: Tell us about
your wealth management services.
Mr. Sznewajs: “It is a growing part of our business, but
not a huge driver of the business. Wealth management and wealth management advisors are an
important part of determining what the customer needs and wants in individual wealth
management, life insurance, planning for retirement or managing retirement assets. There
are a number of opportunities on both the commercial side and on the retail side, making
annuities and mutual funds available for customers that also want to plan for
retirement.”
CEOCFO: What do you look
for in your people?
Mr. Sznewajs: “We look for people who are very
knowledgeable in the marketplace and who are interested in being with an institution like
ours. We want people who share our values, people who want to have a relationship with our
customers and who can bring customers to the bank. We are continually looking to add new
individuals to the company and, when we feel we are the right fit for them and they feel
we are the right fit, then we will pursue that individual.”
CEOCFO: Are there any
services you feel you need to add?
Mr. Sznewajs: “A product that is relatively new in the
marketplace and has limited availability is remote deposit capability for the commercial
customer. Customers can electronically deposit a check from their office desktop by using
a device that reads the check and electronically transmits it to the bank for deposit in
their account. We just introduced our remote deposit product and we think it will be
attractive to the customer base.”
CEOCFO: You have been
voted one of the best places to work in Oregon for two years in a row; what does that mean
for West Coast?
Mr. Sznewajs: “For the management team this means a lot.
We like to think it is a reflection of what people really feel about the company. We like
to think it makes us an attractive employer, which is very important. Banking, like any
industry, is competitive for attracting and retaining talented people. Maintaining a
positive environment is extremely important for us. We work very hard on it every day as a
management team and, consequently, we think the recognition we have been given tells us
that we are doing the right things. We still have areas we want to improve upon, but think
we are going in the right direction.”
CEOCFO: Will you tell us
about the financial picture of the company today?
Mr. Sznewajs: “Financially, we are in terrific shape.
The last several years we have spent a great deal of time reconfiguring our balance sheet.
Five years ago, our balance sheet was very liability-sensitive, which meant that as
short-term rates went up, the liabilities would reprice faster than the loan side of our
balance sheet. One of our strategic objectives was to enhance our balance sheet. As
interest rates change, our balance sheet would be pretty much asset liability neutral. By
that I mean as short-term rates rose or fell, our margin would not be dramatically
affected negatively or positively. We have been successful doing this; in fact, we are
slightly asset-sensitive because we have been on a rising short-term rate environment over
the last 12-18 months. As a result, our interest margin has modestly improved, which is a
very different result than we would have had in the same interest rate environment five
years ago. We have also spent a lot of time diversifying and increasing our fee income
(our non-interest income primarily associated with things like debit cards, issuance of
debit cards to both consumer and small business) as well as increasing our fees on
checking accounts and the fees we get on the sale of mortgages. We have attempted to round
out our non-interest income because we had to manage through the interest rate cycle and
the business cycle. Although we cannot control these two cycles, we have to have a balance
sheet and an income statement that will allow us to continue to grow earnings at better
than a 10% rate. We have a lot of repositioning of certain businesses on the balance sheet
in order to do that.”
CEOCFO: What is ahead
for West Coast Bancorp?
Mr. Sznewajs: “What is ahead for West Coast Bancorp is
continued execution of the strategy that we laid out several years ago. While we evaluate
the strategy on an ongoing basis and may modify it from time-to-time, we actually feel
good about the essence of the strategy. We are committed to adding people and we are
continuing to add new branch locations. We have averaged between 3-5 new branches per year
and we are comfortable with that. We are always on the lookout for an acquisition and if
the right thing came along, we would do it. However, our strategy of growing the company
is not dependent upon doing an acquisition.”
CEOCFO: Does the
investment community really understand West Coast Bank?
Mr. Sznewajs: “I think they do. We now have about 47%
institutional shareholdership, which has increased from less than 27% five years ago. We
spend an appropriate amount of time talking to the investment community about our
strategy, who we are, what we are and what we are not. I think the investment community
understands us very well.”
CEOCFO: Why should
potential investors be interested now and is there something that does not jump off the
page that people should understand?
Mr. Sznewajs: “Potential investors should look at and
understand our strategy. They should get to know the management team and better understand
the strength that the management team brings. I think they should look at the marketplaces
where we are targeting growth and at our historic success in achieving that growth. They
have to make the decision for themselves as to whether the goals we laid out to our
shareholders meet their expectations. If they do, then I think we are a great fit and if
they don’t, then they should probably look at something else.”
CEOCFO: Could you tell us the advantages of your current
geographic locations, such as types of business that are in those areas and if you are
currently considering expanding into other areas?
Mr. Sznewajs: “The Portland/Vancouver market area is
where we have added the most branches over the past several years. We continue to have
good growth across all of our market areas, with a broad base of contemporary commercial
and consumer products. This strategy has been effective as we have significantly increased
the depth and breadth of our product lines along with a more sophisticated sales and
marketing strategy.”
CEOCFO: In closing,
could you tell us what your focus is as CEO?
Mr. Sznewajs: “As CEO, you deal with many things. You
are dealing with strategy and educating people about the strategy. You also deal with
personnel issues or you deal with people that you are trying to recruit. You spend time
with customers —existing customers or potential customers. You deal with investors
— existing investors or future investors. That is what makes the job so great and a
lot of fun, because you have a lot of diversity, you meet a lot of great people and you
have the chance to deal with some tough issues.”
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