By Jim Harger of the Grand Rapids Press
PLAINFIELD TOWNSHIP, MI – Independent Bank Corp. President and CEO William “Brad” Kessel admitted it was an unusual way to celebrate a 150th anniversary when he presided over a ribbon-cutting at the bank’s branch office at 4200 East Beltline Ave. NE on Thursday, Oct. 2.
“We’re starting our second 150 years,” said Kessel, who listed a series of landmark events in the bank’s history, dating back to its origins as the First National Bank of Ionia in 1864 before cutting the ribbon with about 75 bank employees and customers.
The event also could have marked the second life of the bank holding company that grew fast after going public in 1985 and then tumbled hard when the Great Recession hit in 2008.
After participating in the federal government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program, selling off 21 bank branches and issuing 13.2 million shares of new stock last year, Independent Bank is back on its feet as the fifth largest bank headquartered in Michigan.
With 75 branches in 22 counties across Michigan, Independent Bank is profitable again. With total assets of $2.3 billion, its balance sheet is in good shape. It began paying dividends to its shareholders again this spring.
Looking ahead, Kessel said the bank has to be ready to re-invent itself as the industry continues to change. That means adding technology and online features such as their recently added check depositing tool for smartphones.
In an interview with MLive.com and The Grand Rapids Press, Kessel said they expect to grow “organically” because of the markets in which they chose to keep branches.
That eye towards growth is one reason they chose to celebrate in suburban Grand Rapids rather than Ionia, where the bank still is headquartered.
When they sold 21 branches in the Battle Creek area and Northeast Michigan to Chemical Bank, Kessel said they also considered which branches to keep for future growth. The Grand Rapids area, where Independent ranks 14th in deposits with 1.8 percent of the market in Kent County, offers that opportunity, he said.
“One of the things we said was, ‘Things will get better,’” Kessel said. “We asked ourselves, ‘Where will we grow when things do get better?’
“We’re a very competitively sized bank,” Kessel said. “Because of our size, it allows us to do some things that our smaller competitors can’t do and some things that our larger competitors can do,” he said.
Besides growing “organically,” Kessel said Independent also is strong enough to expand via acquisitions. “We do have the financial wherewithal to do an acquisition,” he said.
Whether other banks come calling to acquire Independent remains to be seen, Kessel said.
“I don’t know when or if it will happen,” he said. “When the day is done, we’re a publically traded company and we’re going to do what’s in the best interest of our shareholders.”
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