The Columbia Bank has jumped the border. The Columbia-based bank has 21 full-service locations in several counties but will open its first Anne Arundel branch Monday at the Arundel Preserve mixed-use community in Hanover.
“We see this as a natural extension of the flagship locations where we started the bank in Howard County,” said Mike Galeone, executive vice president for community banking.
“This is what we consider to be a booming, tremendous opportunity not only because of the growth throughout Anne Arundel but BRAC, which is becoming a reality now.”
Galeone said the branch would target small businesses in addition to providing its full services, with features including online deposits and special incentives for opening accounts with the bank.
Smaller businesses may provide the bank with some stability in rough economic times. Instability in the credit markets may affect larger institutions, but small-business owners represent a small risk to most banks, he said.
“Banks rightnow are going to be overreacting. They?re going to stop lending, stop offering services to individuals, simply because they have a problem, and they?re going to shut it down until they fix it,” he said.
“But we find if we manage our organization well … those customers are still as qualified as they were six months ago.”
The new branch includes several unorthodox customer service features, including a Starbucks, wireless Internet areas and coin-counting machines, Galeone said.
The bank also would partner with local charities, schools and other interests, he said.
The Columbia Bank is one of 10 banks in the mid-Atlantic region owned by parent company Fulton Financial Corp. of Lancaster, Pa.
For the year ending Dec. 31, Fulton reported a net income of $38.2 million, down 18 percent from 2006 on charges related to its repurchasing of defaulting residential mortgage and home equity loans.
First quarter results are scheduled to be announced Tuesday.
Fulton got “beat up” in the first half of the past year because of the mortgage defaults, said Jim Sinegal, a banking analyst with Chicago-based investment research firm Morningstar.
But the company?s overall business model is fairly conservative, he said, and favors support of local businesses.
“That?s a pretty safe way to go, and that?s pretty consistent with [Fulton?s] business model,” Sinegal said.
“They can offer more services at a local level.”
