McAllen is Regional Banking Hub
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It’s no coincidence that bank buildings dominate the McAllen skyline.
This South Texas city is the banking capital of the Rio Grande Valley‚ and billions of dollars in loans from McAllen banks are financing – and driving – the area’s rapid growth.
“It’s a dynamic place to do business‚” says Glen Roney‚ chief executive officer of Texas State Bank and chairman of Texas Regional Bancshares Inc.‚ which owns the bank. “The four-county area has a population in excess of a million people‚ and the McAllen MSA has an outstanding record for growth most any way you want to measure it.”
In the city of McAllen alone‚ the population has increased by more than 4‚000 since 2003 – a 3.6 percent growth rate‚ according to the U.S. Census Bureau. And McAllen’s 120‚000-plus residents as well as its many visitors are spending up a storm.
McAllen generates more sales tax per capita than any other city in the state‚ and the rise in population has fueled residential and commercial construction‚ industrial development‚ and expansion of public services and educational facilities.
McAllen is also home to nearly 100 Fortune 500 companies. They contribute significantly to the city’s growing economy while providing business for the flourishing bank industry.
“It’s a two-way street‚” Roney says. “The city’s growth certainly helps the banking business‚ and by the same token‚ the banking business is providing investment and loan products to its customers.”
More than a dozen different banks have operations in McAllen.
Headquartered in McAllen‚ Roney’s Texas State Bank has expanded with the region.
During the past 20 years‚ its assets rose from $100 million to $6.2 billion. The bank now has 71 locations in the Rio Grande Valley‚ metropolitan Houston‚ the Coastal Bend‚ East Texas and Dallas.
Texas State Bank’s outstanding loans in the Rio Grande Valley total about $2.25 billion.
Founded in 1984‚ Inter National Bank also has headquarters in McAllen and has grown along with the community. In the past decade‚ its assets increased from $100 million to $1.1 billion‚ and its loan portfolio went from $60 million to $660 million.
“We have capitalized on the econom-ic boom that South Texas has enjoyed for the last 10 years‚ and we’ve been able to keep up with our share of that boom and then some‚” says Carlos I. Garza‚ president and chief executive officer of Inter National Bank. “A bank’s health is only as good as the health of the economy it’s serving.”
IBC Bank‚ the flagship of International Bancshares Corp.‚ opened its first branch in McAllen in 1990. It now has 20 branches throughout Hidalgo County‚ mostly in the McAllen area‚ and 200 throughout Texas and Oklahoma.
“Our strength was derived out of South Texas‚ and we’ve grown with South Texas‚” says David Guerra‚ president and chief executive officer of IBC-McAllen.
“The banking industry itself in McAllen has grown not only in deposit size and number of locations‚ but we – IBC and competitors – have more than quadrupled the number of banking branches in the county in five to 10 years‚” Guerra says. “We’ve had steady growth in new jobs created – all driven by this industry.”
Story by Rebecca Denton
Photo by Antony Boshier
