by Lorine Parks
“I’m a fifth generation Californian,” our speaker said, spreading out the fingers of his right hand, “a fourth generation banker, and a third generation polo player.”
Henry Walker, President of Farmer’s and Merchant’s Bank of Long Beach was addressing us, and somehow we knew he did not mean water polo was his game.
Henry’s grandfather C. J. Walker founded F&M in 1910, after several other local banks had failed, after the national Banker’s Panic of 1907. F&M was an outgrowth of an earlier institution founded in the 1880’s by Henry’s great-great-grandfather, so banking is in his genes.
Henry was introduced by Program Chair Jesse Vargas, Relationship Director and a vice president of the bank. The Downey branch, which opened four years ago at 9001 Firestone, operates as a full service brick and mortar office.
Henry went to work at the family bank at age 22 on the teller line, and
since May 2012 has served as the Chief Executive Officer at Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach.
“When I started thirty years ago, I’d see each one of you walk in, and shake your hand and know your name,” Henry said. “Something altered that. The computer has impersonalized transactions. But my goal is the same now as it was then: make proper loans, pay proper rates.”
And what is the hallmark of a community bank? “To give good customer service,” Henry said. “We have to work for your business every day. Pam has to work for it every day. That was a reference to our Pam Powers, Downey’s Pacific Western Bank. Henry knows the competition.
“You’ve got to work harder,” he said. “I’ve been trained to have responsibilities – for billions in bonds, for stock shares, for each deposit.”
October 2008 was the worst single month in my life.” Henry said. “My mother died in that month; I moved; several other personal events occurred, and the Stock Market abruptly fell to its lowest. That’s the month when the bottom fell out of the economy. Chase had to get a government bailout, because of bad bank loans.”
“It was like being on a roller coaster, you kept going down and you never saw the track, you were going so fast,” Henry said. “It was a very interesting time,” he concluded, as an understatement.
“When I was 16 I lost my father. I had grown up breaking horses with my father. There is a reason why we’re fortunate. My father was a workaholic,he worked 24/7, and always with a smile on his face. He loved working.
My father and grandfather were bankers; my sister’s brother was a polo player. He was an expert – I’m only a so-so player,” Henry said. “But the greatest polo player who ever lived gave me advice on breaking horses, ‘Never break their spirit.’ That’s a lesson for life.”
“My philosophy is to be considerate,” Henry said. “When I started out in banking at age 22 as a teller, I would try to move away when other conversations began between bankers. But an old timer caught my shoulder and he said, ‘Listen to conversations. There’s never a conversation you can’t learn something from.’”
“My biggest challenge?” Henry answered, “The same as any other banker. To keep the rates competitive, and have good relationships with the customers.
An analogy to what happened in 2008 would be all the bankers in Wall Street standing in a room filled with chairs. The music stops, a chair is removed. Keep taking away the chairs and when the music stop for the last time, I want to be the one who gets that chair.”
“We’ve never lost money,” Henry said. As a regional bank concentrating on customer service and loans, Farmer’s and Merchant’s has built a solid reputation with its conservative policies.
“Industry-wide, in 2008 a lot of banks went out of business. We had the ability to lead in consumer areas and markets and customer consumer loans. My responsibility was to find ‘good borrowers.’”
F &M bank today has 24 branches. Although headquartered in Long Beach it has a presence in the South Bay from Newport Beach to up to Santa Barbara.
For everyone’s interest, the following information is public knowledge and taken from the Internet. Farmers & Merchants’ net interest margin was 3.39% for the 2018 second quarter, versus 3.44% in the 2017 second quarter. Net interest margin was 3.38% for the first half of 2018, compared with 3.43% for the same period in 2017.
In June 30, 2018, net loans increased to $3.94 billion from $3.83 billion at December 31, 2017. The Bank’s deposits rose to $5.59 billion at the end of the 2018 second quarter from $5.40 billion at December 31, 2017. Non-interest-bearing deposits represented 38.4% of total deposits at June 30, 2018, versus 37.6% of total deposits at December 31, 2017. Total assets increased to $7.27 billion at the close of the 2018 second quarter from $6.99 billion at December 31, 2017.
At June 30, 2017, Farmers & Merchants Bank remained “well-capitalized” under all regulatory categories, with a total risk-based capital ratio of 20.09%, a tier 1 risk-based capital ratio of 18.86%, a common equity tier 1 capital ratio of 18.86%, and a tier 1 leverage ratio of 13.87%. The minimum ratios for capital adequacy for a well-capitalized bank are 10.00%, 8.00%, 6.50% and 5.00%, respectively.
F&M’s existing and future clients value an independent and regionally focused bank. F&M is uniquely positioned to understand the needs of its community.