Chase hired as CEO of newest bank

Former Renasant executive VP being replaced by UP’s Hall
BY DAVID FLAUM
flaum@commercialappeal.com

‘Local void aim of new bank’

As-yet-unnamed entrant will serve small, midsize businesses
BY DAVID FLAUM
flaum@commercialappeal.com

It doesn’t have a name yet, but the second new bank to be formed in the wake of last year’s buyouts is on the drawing board.

A group or organizers led by B. Lane Carrick, president of Sovereign Wealth Management Inc. of Memphis, plans to open a bank aimed at small and medium-sized business in the Interstate 240-Poplar area late this year, and they’ve already hired their first employee.

“With mergers, consolidations and buyouts, you have a bit of a vacuum in Memphis in local decision-making,” Carrick said. “There are only a handful where decisions are made locally. We want to step in and fill that void.”

The group includes Larry Papasan, former president of the orthopedic division of Smith & Nephew in Memphis and of Memphis Light, Gas, and Water Division; Steve Dunavant, partner in Thompson Dunavant CPA firm; and Mark Halperin, executive vice president of Boyle Investment Co.

The idea for the bank started with conversations between Carrick, Dunavant and others about what they’d like to see in a bank. As the buyout activity unfolded- five Memphis institutions were bought out last year- the discussions evolved into plans to form a bank, Carrick said.

“We looked very hard at whether there was room for another bank,” he said, “We recognize Memphis has a lot of banks. You have to offer something different to your clients, you have to do something better than other folks.”

That would be relationship banking for owners of small and midsize companies, Carrick said.

That’s an increasingly crowded market in Memphis, said Kevin Reynolds, banking analyst for Stanford Financial Group.

With a growing number of banks fighting for a fixed amount of business, competitors must hike deposit rates, shave loan rates, and soften loan terms to win business- all of which trim profits, he said.

“There are plenty of small businesses in the Memphis-Shelby County area to support other community banks,” said Robert Shaw, president of Paragon National Bank, a month-old institution in the very area Carrick’s group hopes to call home.

“There’s a lot of interest in locally owned banks, and I would be surprised if there is not a lot of interest in their bank,” Shaw said.

Harold Byrd, executive vice president of Bank of Bartlett, said the growth in the number of independent banks in Memphis over the past eight to 10 years has contributed to that situation.

Mergers give independent banks, new and old, a good chance to capture business, but they have to be able to combine personal service with the conveniences people are used to getting from large banks to lure away business, Byrd said.

“It can be done with the right people and the right formula,” he said.

Carrick believes the new bank can do that.

Its first employee, Michael McCarver, was hired this week to be chief operating officer. McCarver held a similar position with Renasant Bank in Germantown. Renasant was acquired by The Peoples Holding Co. of Tupelo, Miss. last year.

The search for a CEO should be completed in 30 to 45 days, Carrick said.

Meanwhile, organizers will contribute $3 million in start-up capital, the group will attempt to issue private stock to raise another $12 million, find a home and get a national bank charter, he said.

If all goes well, the bank may be open as early as Sept.1, he said.

-David Flaum: 529-2330