Bank of the West 2009 Annual Report Download - page 4

partnership
Bank of the West took many steps in the challenging
year of 2009 to add to its strong foundation for safe and
sustainable growth. With the support of our corporate
parent, BNP Paribas, we continued to invest in enhancing
your bank’s retail delivery network, online capabilities,
wealth management and risk management, and remained
a reliable financial partner to people and businesses.
Our focus at Bank of the West has remained on our
customers and communities, and we were gratified by
their decisions to deepen our relationships throughout
this turbulent year.
We are all aware that 2009 was an extraordinarily
difficult year for the nation’s economy, especially in many
of our Western markets. Reflecting these macroeconomic
forces, Bank of the West recorded a $403 million loss
for the year. Although our losses through the crisis
have been much less than many of our peers, they were
disappointing. We were pleased, however, that our
core businesses performed well, generating very
good growth in core deposits and new individual and
business relationships.
The health of our franchise allowed us to provide
consistent credit and other support to our valued
customers through the year, from our California
customers whose “registered warrants” we cashed
throughout the state’s fiscal crisis, to individuals and
businesses throughout our 19-state footprint.
Delivery of exceptional service has been one of the
factors that has consistently set us apart from the crowd
of some 8,000 banks in this country, and in 2009 we
were honored to be ranked “Highest in Customer
Satisfaction with Retail Banking in the West” for the
second year in a row by J.D. Power and Associates.
In 2009 we also received Greenwich Excellence Awards
for Small Business and Middle Market Banking from
Greenwich Associates.
Our Commercial Banking Group, which accounts for 26
percent of the b ank’s revenues, experienced lower levels
of loan originations last year, in line with the reduced
market demand for commercial lending. Offsetting this
reduction however were significant increases in core
deposits, cash management services and corporate cards.
The bank’s Wealth Management Group, which includes
private banking, trust, insurance services and our retail
broker/dealer, achieved very strong investment returns
for our clients over the year and increased assets under
management by 24 percent.
In the consumer lending businesses, our long term
commitment to sound underwriting was evidenced by
the strong performance of our loan portfolio relative to
the average industry and peer bank results. Our National
Finance Group also generated a modest increase in
mortgage originations as we continued to provide home
financing for existing and new customers.
MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN & CEO
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The kind of bank that builds its business on