Northern Kentucky

FINANCIAL SERVICES
A more robust capital market
Location, regional growth, technology all make the area’s banks valuable business partners
BY GREG PAETH
AS banker Mer Grayson Jr. recalls,
when Drees Homes needed a loan
of about $1 million for its corporate
headquarters on Grandview Drive in Fort
Mitchell, three Northern Kentucky banks
decided to team up to share the risk on a
construction loan that was considered to be
pretty hefty around 1980.
How things have changed.
No one suggests million-dollar
transactions are now equivalent to lunch
money in Northern Kentucky. But a
fortunate combination of factors – the
region’s location, its growth, new technology,
and critical changes in state and federal
banking regulations – mean it is far easier
for businesses today to get several proposals
when they’re searching for capital to build,
operate and grow.
A factor distinguishing Northern
Kentucky from other corners of the state is
its status as a key element of the Cincinnati
metropolitan area, 28th largest in the
country with a population of more than 2.1
million, according to U.S. Census data. By
comparison, Louisville Metro ranks 43rd
with 1.3 million people and Lexington
107th at just over a half million.
In downtown Covington on Madison
Avenue, Republic Bank & Trust, headed
by Market President Thomas R. Saelinger,
has established three offices in Northern
Kentucky – Covington, Florence and
Independence – and one in Cincinnati
since it entered the Greater Cincinnati
market 10 years ago. And Louisvillebased
Republic, which now has 44 offices
in five states, isn’t done.
“We’re looking at additional offices in
Northern Kentucky in northern Campbell
County and in central Kenton County in
the next 12 to 24 months,” said Saelinger,
REPUBLIC BANK
535 Madison Ave.
Covington, KY 41011
(859) 462-9082
republicbank.com
Republic Bank has grown
to become the largest
locally-owned community
bank in Kentucky, offering
a full array of banking
and financial services for
individuals as well as small
and large businesses.
Thomas R.
Saelinger,
Market
President,
Republic
Bank & Trust
who grew up as the youngest of 10 children
on a farm in Campbell County. “We’re also
looking at two more locations in Cincinnati.”
A key factor in attracting top-flight
people to Republic is its proximity to a
big city that offers professional sports, the
arts and other amenities that many young
people find appealing, said Saelinger,
who worked for Cincinnati-based Fifth
Third Bank for 15 years before moving to
Republic seven years ago.
“We see a clear need
in our market for a strong
community bank with
access to resources and
skilled bankers,” said
Jason Payne, Republic
Bank’s managing director
of the Northern Kentucky
Market. “Business clients
and consumer clients not
only want state-of-the-art
Jason Payne,
Market
Manager –
Northern
Kentucky,
Republic Bank
technology from their bank, they also
want nimble and responsive service.”
At this point, the Northern Kentucky/
Greater Cincinnati market has proven to
be receptive to what Saelinger describes
as a “larger community bank” that has
assets of about $4.8 billion.
“It’s been a strong year and 2015 was
good. We had greater than 20 percent
growth in lending and greater than
15 percent growth in deposits,” said
Saelinger, adding that Republic’s loan
portfolio has grown from about $35
million to $230 million in recent years.
Republic Bank & Trust has a growing presence in
Northern Kentucky since it opened its first office
in the market 10 years ago.
The six Northern Kentucky counties
highlighted in this article – Boone,
Campbell, Gateway, Gallatin, Grant,
Kenton and Pendleton – have bank
deposits of $6.9 billion, which is about
9 percent of the $76.5 billion on deposit
in 190 banks in the state, according to
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. statistics
as of June 30.
As impressive as that statewide total
is, the Cincinnati metro area alone tops
it by 30 percent, according to FDIC data,
which show some $107 billion on deposit
in lending institutions inside an area that
includes Northern Kentucky and a sliver
of southeast Indiana. By comparison,
metropolitan Louisville has $25.2 billion on
deposit and metro Lexington
banks reported $9.4 billion.
Although it’s a widely
used metric in assessing
and comparing the
availability and the scale
of financial services, bank
deposit totals don’t tell the
whole story, Grayson said.
“When you’re
looking at Lexington and
Mer Grayson,
Chair, Central
Bank Northern
Kentucky
Advisory Board
Louisville, you have to keep in mind
that all of the (financial) firepower in
Cincinnati is also in Northern Kentucky,”
said Grayson, a second-generation bank
40 The Lane Report’s Northern Kentucky Market Review 2017 lanereport.com