Bank to open Ranch branch

Add The Bank of Commerce to the growing list of banks headed to Lakewood Ranch.

The Sarasota-based bank will open its first Manatee County branch in May at 1847 Enterprise Circle. The 8,000-square-foot branch will be situated right on Lakewood Ranch Boulevard among many other competitors.

"It's a burgeoning area, and we will be in a great location and staff it with quality people," said Charles Murphy, president and CEO of The Bank of Commerce.

A lot of other banks are heading to the Lakewood Ranch Boulevard area. In the last two months alone, Community Bank broke ground on a site and SunTrust Bank opened its 11th Manatee County branch nearby.

Lakewood Ranch spokeswoman Sondra Guffey said she is pleased at the banking growth the area is seeing.

"All banks are welcome," Guffey said. "We think this is a great location in a community that is growing every day."

The Bank of Commerce branch will have 10 employees, including a commercial lending division.

"Our strategy has been to put some real decision-makers in these offices rather than order takers," Murphy said.

The Bank of Commerce announced last week its decision to hire Paul Adamson, a former SunTrust banker, to the position of vice president and commercial lender for the new branch. Adamson is active in the Lakewood Ranch community and serves on several local boards.

"It's part of our philosophy to hire qualified bankers that already have a stake in the surrounding community," Murphy said.

Decisions will be made in the first quarter for other new hires.

The Bank of Commerce has $255 million in assets and has grown a little more than $50 million a year for the past five years. Less than 200 shareholders, who are primarily Sarasota-based, own the bank.

There are now locations at the corner of South Orange Avenue and Mound Street in downtown Sarasota, and on Cattlemen Road just north of Bee Ridge Road in Sarasota.

In December, the bank also plans to relocate its downtown banking center to a new three-story 215,000-square-foot Sarasota headquarters under construction at Ringling Boulevard and Link Avenue. The building will house about 50 employees.

And more new buildings could follow in the Sarasota-Bradenton area.

"We are always on the lookout for new locations," Murphy said. "You can't be small and be good. If you are good, you will grow because you are good and new customers will seek you out."

Don Adam, chairman and CEO of a new startup bank in Tampa called American Commerce Bank wants to move into the Bradenton-Sarasota area, too.

"We will be expanding branches as quickly as we have the ability to staff them and to have premier locations in a growing marketplace like Bradenton is a goal," Adam said.

What are people saying about mortgages today:

Rates on 30-year mortgages edged down last week to a seven-month low. Mortgage-giant Freddie Mac reported Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages fell to 6.3 percent, down slightly from 6.31 percent two weeks ago. It put rates at the lowest level since they were at 6.24 percent the first week of March.

Bank of Hawaii, Central Pacific Bank, Territorial Savings Bank and Wells Fargo Home Mortgages all cut their 30-year mortgage rates to 5.75 percent this week.

Most people think of a mortgage as a means to an end. After all, you buy a house, not a home loan. But a mortgage is much more than the path to homeownership. It is a financial instrument that must be managed, just like any other financial investment.