AmericasBank Expansion Continues with Announcement of President for Annapolis Community Bank
May 31 2007 - 12:30PM
Business Wire
AmericasBank, a subsidiary of AmericasBank Corp. (Nasdaq:AMAB), has
hired Eric W. Edstrom as President of Annapolis Community Bank, an
operating division of the bank, President and CEO Mark H. Anders
announced today. Earlier this month, AmericasBank announced its
plan to open three to five community banking centers in central
Maryland. Each banking center will be independently-operated and
marketed under its own trade name as a division of AmericasBank.
AmericasBank�s application to open the Annapolis banking center was
recently approved by State of Maryland�s Division of Financial
Regulation and by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Edstrom�s
appointment marks the second significant leadership addition in two
weeks for AmericasBank, which last Monday announced the hiring of
Ellen R. Fish to head up the Company�s first community banking
center, Towson Community Bank. Towson Community Bank also is
operated as a division of AmericasBank. �Our strategy is to
identify and hire top local banking leaders in each community as we
open new banking centers,� said AmericasBank President and CEO Mark
H. Anders. �Ellen fits that mold and so does Eric. He�s President
of the Rotary Club of Annapolis, so he�s clearly a major player in
the Annapolis civic community as well as in the banking community
in the region. He�s the kind of banker we want to head up our
community banking centers.� Anders also said that Edstrom�s hiring,
like Fish�s, underscores AmericasBank expansion philosophy.
�AmericasBank is becoming a family of community banking centers
organized to look, act, and feel like independent local banks,� he
said. �We believe that small, independently-operated community
banking centers can be highly profitable by providing the personal
service and common sense solutions not offered by big banks. �A
family of such banking centers offers the opportunity for steady,
controlled growth and above-market investment returns, and Eric
will be a key part of this approach for us.� Edstrom has over 35
years experience in banking and finance, primarily in Annapolis and
on Maryland�s Eastern Shore. He worked with Anders for several
years at BankAnnapolis, which Edstrom joined in 1999. Since 2004,
Edstrom has served as COO and CFO for The Whitmore Group in
Annapolis, gaining crucial insights from the business side into the
what works and what doesn�t in how banks serve their local
customers. Edstrom is also well-connected with the Annapolis
community, where he and his wife of 36 years, Wendy, first settled
in 1973. Edstrom is immediate past Chairman of the Administrative
Council of the Eastport United Methodist Church and a Trustee of
the Annapolis Masonic Lodge and Treasurer of York Rite. He also
serves on the Partnership Board of United Way for Anne Arundel
County and is on the Board of Wellness House, Inc. Additionally,
Edstrom is an adjunct instructor at Columbia Union College and Anne
Arundel Community College. His many years of service with
innumerable civic groups, governmental advisory boards, and
business associations have given Edstrom a keen understanding of
his community�s needs, and Edstrom said Annapolis sorely misses the
kind of community banking that once dominated the market. �During
the last decade with the sale of Farmers National and now the sale
of Mercantile�s Annapolis Bank and Trust, Annapolis has become
dominated by large banks based out of state,� he said. �So while
the Annapolis banking market is fiercely competitive on the retail
side, we see a good opportunity for a community bank with a more
narrow focus. We won�t be all things to all people, but we will be
significant to a few, and we�ll keep the operation small, intimate,
and local so that we can offer creativity, flexibility, and
responsiveness. That�s the essence of our customer service model.�
AmericasBank also announced the hiring of Erik M. Chick, who joins
Annapolis Community Bank as a Senior Vice President with
responsibility for all residential and commercial mortgage lending.
Like Edstrom, Chick worked at BankAnnapolis, where he served as
Vice President of Mortgage Banking from 1998 until taking the
AmericasBank post. �Erik Chick is another great addition to the
team of bankers we expect to hire in Annapolis,� said Edstrom. The
Company expects to have six to eight lenders and business
development people working at Annapolis Community Bank by this time
next year. AmericasBank will soon announce a late summer opening
date for its community banking center in Annapolis. About
AmericasBank Corp. AmericasBank Corp. is the parent company of
AmericasBank, a Maryland-chartered commercial bank headquartered in
Towson, Maryland. AmericasBank is dedicated to contributing to the
growth and prosperity of the communities it serves, with a special
focus on serving the needs of the business community and promoting
home ownership. The statements in this press release that are not
historical facts constitute "forward-looking statements" as defined
by Federal Securities laws. Such statements, regarding AmericasBank
Corp.'s anticipated future results of operations, are subject to
risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ
materially from future results expressed or implied by such
forward-looking statements. Potential risks and uncertainties
include, but are not limited to: the risk that AmericasBank Corp.
may continue to incur losses; the possible loss of key personnel;
the inability to successfully implement strategic initiatives; risk
of changes in interest rates, deposit flows and loan demand; risk
associated with having a large percentage of residential real
estate loans secured by investment properties; risk of an industry
concentration with respect to deposits; risk of credit losses;
risks associated with residential mortgage lending, including
acting as a correspondent lender; risk associated with a slowdown
in the housing market or high interest rates; the allowance for
loan and lease losses may not be sufficient; operational risks of
the leasing companies to which AmericasBank has extended credit in
connection with the lease portfolio; dependence on third party
vendors; risk of possible future regulatory action as a result of
past violations of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act; as
well as changes in economic, competitive, governmental, regulatory,
technological and other factors that may affect AmericasBank Corp.
or AmericasBank specifically or the banking industry generally.
Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made.
AmericasBank Corp. will not update forward-looking statements to
reflect factual assumptions, circumstances or events that have
changed after a forward-looking statement was made. For further
information, please refer to the AmericasBank Corp.'s filings with
the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and available at their
web site www.sec.gov.
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