The newest arrival on the Gregg County banking scene opened the doors on its first local branch just a few weeks ago in Kilgore with plans for a second county location in Longview - possibly within the next two years, according to Troy Robinson.
As president and chief executive officer of Quitman-based BankTexas, Robinson said the Longview-Kilgore markets are natural locations for an East Texas-headquartered institution looking for growth.
Michael Cavazos/News-Journal Photo |
Bank at the pump at BankTexas location at the Gateway Travel Plaza, I-20 and Texas 42.
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Michael Cavazos/News-Journal Photo |
BankTexas CEO Troy Robinson speaks with guests during an open house.
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"We already had a number of shareholders and customers in the Kilgore and Longview area," Robinson said. "And our bank has a desire to grow. We're looking for opportunities."
The first county branch for BankTexas opened in October in the Gateway Travel Center, Interstate 20 and Texas 42 between Kilgore and White Oak.
"We wanted to expand to places where we can put our brand in front of more people," Robinson said. "We've tested this strategy and feel this is a good place for businesses, including banks."
Tammy Ritter, who has extensive banking experience in Kilgore and other East Texas sites, is in charge of the Kilgore branch.
The Kilgore location is a full service branch with drive-through lanes, a lobby and ATM. It also has one of the latest innovations in banking.
"We have a bank at the pump option," Robinson said. While customers are filling up their cars and trucks at the travel center's gasoline pumps they can also transact banking business from beside their vehicle.
Robinson said as far as he knows this is the only bank at the pump site in East Texas and one of the few in the state. He said it operates much like a drive-through lane does with a video camera linked pneumatic tube taking deposits and withdrawals from the machine at the pump to the branch's lobby where a teller can both talk to the customer and see them.
BankTexas has 390 shareholders with no single owner having more than 10 percent ownership. Robinson said an individual owned a 59 percent controlling interest in the institution until 2006 when heirs decided to divest that interest after the individual died.
"For our ownership group, it was very important that we kept a bank with local ownership," Robinson said. The Kilgore location represents the fifth full service branch for BankTexas along with loan production offices in Longview and Tyler.
In December BankTexas, which operated as the First National Bank of Quitman from 1914 until 2005, will open a branch in Lindale. The institution's history goes back to the late 1800s, Robinson said.
"Our roots are in Wood County where we've been operating more than 100 years," Robinson said. "We're not opening dozens of new locations but we are looking for opportunities."
In the Longview loan production office, veteran Gregg County banker Jim Wallace, who serves as a senior vice president for BankTexas, is in charge. Wallace said the bank has purchased property on Judson Road, north of the Southside Bank location, for opening its first Longview branch within the next two years.
Wallace said with the strong East Texas economy, he expects to see continued growth in the market despite the problems being experienced by financial institutions at the national level.
"This is a great opportunity for BankTexas to expand into a high traffic location," Wallace said of the Judson Road site. "We're excited about expanding and doing business in Gregg County and Longview."
