Banking
center openings – more than one per month throughout 2005 – continued
to signal the start of a new era for Comerica Bank in the West. By late January
2006, there were 62 banking centers in California and Arizona, 50 percent more
than there had been 18 months earlier.
The year 2005 saw the unfolding in the West of new strategies underlying the
banking center expansions: Small business owners and residents in affluent communities
in California’s big three metro regions – San Francisco/San Jose,
Los Angeles/Orange County and San Diego – discovered that Comerica also could meet their personal banking, small business and retail
banking needs.
San Francisco and Walnut Creek saw street-level Comerica Bank locations for
the first time in 2005. Other cities, such as San Diego and Century City (Los Angeles), saw Comerica Bank announced as a lead
tenant in centerpiece high-rise office buildings. In Arizona, the first two
street-level banking centers opened in the Phoenix-Scottsdale area in December,
with more to come in 2006 and beyond.
David White assumed additional duties as Southern California regional president,
and will be moving in 2006 into the signature building at Century City that
will serve as the new Southern California regional headquarters.
The Entertainment Division, which financed the Academy Award-winning movie,
“Crash,” also will move from Beverly Hills into the new Century
City building, aptly named 2000 Avenue of the Stars.
Comerica enhances its business banking reputation in the region as the “Official
Bank of the Los Angeles Lakers,” and the Entertainment Division’s
sports lending group has built on that reputation, with new banking ties to
the Oakland A’s, Florida Marlins, Arizona Diamondbacks and Minnesota Vikings.
Expanded offices in 2005 in Costa Mesa matched the bank’s growth in Orange
County, and became the western headquarters for Small Business Banking. Comerica
executives attended a groundbreaking in downtown San Diego for a new office
building where the Comerica Bank logo will tower over the right-field fence
at Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres.
California proved to be a good platform in 2005 from which to operate national
business units. Among them, Small Business Banking, led by Peggy Bradshaw; Financial
Services, led by Chuck Pohl; and Technology & Life Sciences, led by Greg
Belanger.
The horizons are broadening, not just in Arizona, but all the way to China.
To better serve U.S. businesses interested in building connections to the vast
Chinese manufacturing and consumer base, Comerica — through its International
Banking department — is establishing a representative office in Shanghai.
The Western Market, in particular, expects to capitalize on the many new business
opportunities that will be created by the office. Helen Huang, a bank vice president
and Shanghai native, is moving to her home city to help Comerica establish the
representative office. During 2005, Huang joined California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
as the representative for the California banking industry on a U.S. trade mission
to China.
The West is not only a proving ground for the continued diversification of the
bank’s core businesses, but for the cultural diversity of its work force
and customer base as well. This has led to important connections to new communities.
In Los Angeles, for example, Comerica officers used billboards and distributed
22,000 complimentary tickets to local area businesses for the Latino Business
Expo, reported in Spanish language media. The bank also advertised small business
services in African-American, Hispanic, Chinese and Korean publications, where
materials were developed in Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin and Korean.
Comerica has been able to grow in the West, as it has in other locations, by
growing with the businesses it serves.
“While we grow, we continue to distinguish ourselves from the competition
by providing personal and responsive service,” said Mike Fulton, president
and chief executive officer of Comerica Bank-Western Market. “Our customers
get a high level of attention from experienced relationship officers, who are
empowered to act swiftly on their behalf. Customers also have regular access
to senior management, where they see firsthand our commitment to their success.
It’s a winning formula for our customers and Comerica.”
