Texas Bank Seeks 2 Loudoun Branches

A $2 billion community bank out of Texas that has aggressively expanded into North Carolina and Virginia in the last year and a half is seeking to make its first inroads into Northern Virginia.

Woodforest National Bank, a 26-year-old bank based in Woodlands, TX, has placed 34 branches in North Carolina since April 2005 and 14 in southern and central Virginia since March of this year. The bank has 176 branches in Texas.

In September, the nationally chartered bank filed applications for 19 other Virginia branches, all at Wal-Mart locations. The locations in Northern Virginia include Winchester, Manassas and two in Loudoun: the Sterling Wal-Mart and a South Riding location at the intersection of Routes 606 and 50.

Calls made to Woodforest and Wal-Mart representatives regarding the possible location of a Wal-Mart in South Riding have not yet been returned.

The bank first partnered with Wal-Mart in 1996 with a branch in Conroe, TX.

"We've learned a lot from Wal-Mart," Julie Mayrant, executive vice president for retail banking, said in a December 2005 press release.

"We're open every day it is. We're retailers; we're not just a community bank sitting in a store."

She added that the company is not concerned with Wal-mart's charter application for a Utah industrial bank, noting that the retail giant has said its goal is not to compete with financial institutions but to lower interchange fees on card transactions at its stores.

The bank's business model relies heavily on expanded customer services, such as processing deposits seven days a week and having some branches that are open seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

Woodforest does have brick and mortar community banks, which produce more income, but the in-store branches "provide us with a key source of funding and future earnings growth," Michael H. Richmond, Woodforest vice chairman and chief financial officer, said in the 2005 press release.

The bank's moves into Virginia and North Carolina was an attempt to expand into "less competitive markets," Richmond said.

"It's always a little scary to go into another state, but Texas is probably the most competitive state in the country," he said. "Everybody and their brother is here."