“We are in business and talking to customers, opening deposits and making loans.”
Xenith Bank president and CEO Galyon Layfield has been waiting more than a year to say that.
Richmond-based Xenith Bank originally wanted to start a new bank from scratch, but because federal regulators were not letting new banks form, the founders bought a bank in Hampton Roads. That slowed them down considerably.
The company finally opened for business a few days ago. Xenith’s Richmond office is on the 17th floor of the James Center downtown, and the bank has about 20 employees here with another 45 across Virginia.
Layfield said the bank is targeting three categories of customers: commercial firms that have sales between $5 million and $150 million, local real estate developers and investors and private banking practice.
Layfield defined that last term, private banking, as owners or senior management that are looking for a high level of personal touch for personal accounts and business loans.
Because there is no network of ATMs or branch locations at Xenith, customers make deposits by scanning checks and sending then through the Internet to the bank, said Layfield. (You can read a February Q&A with Layfield here)
Two other banks – Virginia Business Bank and Paragon Commercial Bank – operate with a similar model, catering to businesses and operating with just an office and no traditional standalone branches.
Layfield said Xenith has more reserves than Virginia Business Bank. “Our capital base allows us to deal with substantially larger companies than they can accommodate,” he said. “We see our place as between the smaller community banks and the big banks.”
Xenith has more of a local focus than Paragon, Layfield said. “Paragon is not headquartered here. We are. This is our primary focus, and our management is here.”
The bank also wants to open an office in Tyson’s Corner section of Fairfax, Layfield said, but that must await approval from state bank regulators. The bank also has three branches in Hampton Roads under the SuffolkFirst name.
But there are still a few more hoops to jump through. Xenith’s purchase of First Bankshares Inc. went through, but then Xenith changed the stock symbol to XBKS, according to a story in the Washington Business Journal.
That move violated an initial stock listing, according to the article:
“Nasdaq requires that the market value of the company’s publicly held shares (excluding shares held by directors, executive officers and 10 percent shareholders) be at least $15 million. As of Dec. 22, the closing bid price for shares of First Bankshares’ common stock was $4.01, which resulted in a market value of publicly held shares of $9.3 million. The closing bid price must be at least $6.47 to meet the requirement.”
Layfield said he was expecting this to happen. “There is an appeal process, and we have started that appeal process to frankly give us some time to assess what our alternatives might be.
“We’ll see how that unfolds over the next few weeks.”
Aaron Kremer is the BizSense editor. Please send news tips to Editor@richmondbizsense.com.
