Grand Island-based Five Points Bank, which opened its first Omaha-area branch in La Vista in 2011, recently opened its third location in a two-story, 11,000-square-foot building at 1303 N. 205th St. in the fast-developing Elkhorn area.
Bank chairman and CEO Tom Kelley said the new branch is the institution’s 14th in the state. In addition to a Lincoln location opened four years ago at 8500 S. 30th St., other branches are located in Grand Island, Hastings, Kearney and Sumner.
The community bank has grown to include 11 employees in Lincoln and about 35 in Omaha.
“Five Points Bank could not be more excited to serve the Elkhorn market,” Kelley said. The native Omahan worked for the Federal Reserve Bank’s board of governors in Washington, D.C. and started his career as a lawyer.
Kelley attributes much of Five Points Bank’s organic growth to its strong mid-state roots. The family-owned institution is named after a historical five-street intersection in Grand Island.
As of January 2022, Five Points had $1.9 billion in assets and Hometown Banc Corp., its holding company, had assets of $2.4 billion.
The 51-year growth story, Kelley said, is directed by a mix of small-town sense with an emphasis on relationship-building while still being able to offer the tools and resources of bigger banks.
“We have assembled a stellar team of Andy Sajevic, Michelle Sawicki and Amanda Coleman to lead our growth in Elkhorn – one of the fastest growing markets in Nebraska,” he said.
The bottom floor of the new Elkhorn structure, just west of 204th Street & Veterans Drive, will serve as a full service bank; mortgage operations will be located on the upper floor.
Room for Growth
As Branch Operations Supervisor, Coleman, a 10-year veteran of the bank with experience in three of its geographic markets, said she’s impressed by the diversity of the business community.
“There’s so much new construction from multi-family and apartment complexes to medical offices and industrial space and warehousing,” she said. “A good number of them are Nebraska-based industries and they are very strategic in how they allocate their capital.”
Vice President and Mortgage Division Manager, Michelle Sawicki, a 18-year veteran of the bank’s mortgage department, said the growth potential in far west Douglas County and Elkhorn is ripe with opportunities for generating deposits, attracting mortgages, and making commercial loans.
“They are our customers,” she said.
Sajevic, vice president and loan officer, has been with the bank for seven years and transferred from the Kearney to Omaha market in 2017. He works predominantly with commercial customers.
“While technology will continue to grow and will be our foundation, we as a community bank need to have a people-presence in the community,” he said.
Five Points Bank has grown in the Omaha area over the past 11 years by making a variety of commercial loans ranging from $2,000 to allow a fledgling business to acquire a copying machine to a $16 million package to finance the equipment needs of a manufacturer.
As a state-chartered institution, Five Points Bank can make loans up to its legal limit of $20 million.
Entrepreneurial ideas are frequently pitched to Sajevic and his three Omaha loan colleagues.
“We find it fun to sit down and build relationships,” he said. “Frequently we are able to provide additional insights as to what has worked in the past and we can connect them to community resources.
“A trend we’re seeing is that customers appreciate the accessibility we offer to [our] decision-makers.”
Bank staffers, offering on average 15 to 16 years of experience, make a difference.
Coleman said an important part of the growth has been emphasizing being a “single-source for solutions” sought by customers.
A mobile banking app has gained in acceptance. Customers bank person-to-person via a screen. Technology enables Five Point Bank clients calling in to be identified by name when the phone is answered.
“We’d like to believe we have a solution for each individual,” Coleman said.
Kelley said another important differentiating factor is that Five Points Bank doesn’t believe in outsourcing. It retains the servicing rights on the mortgages it sells, a policy, which Kelley told Midlands Business Journal in a 2017 interview, customers continually tell him they appreciate.
There’s a flexibility gained from local ownership and simplified decision-making, he added.
Community Ties
Bank personnel played an important role in the past couple of years by facilitating more than 1,900 Paycheck Protection Program loans worth over $175,000,000.
The bank’s consumer and community base has been strengthened by the growth of its Golden Club, which programs educational and social opportunities for those 55 or older via monthly theater trips, attractions at the Orpheum Theater and trips to the state fair.
Additional activities range from cruises to paper-shredding opportunities.
Coleman said the 2021 Golden Club holiday luncheon was served to 3,400 customers between the bank’s various locations.
Five Points Bank was founded by William W. Marshall Jr. and William W. “Bill” Marshall in 1971. Joining Kelley on the executive leadership team is Vice Chairman Kristen Marshall Maser.
800-576-4687 • 1303 N. 205th St., Elkhorn 68022 • www.5pointsbank.com
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