Monarch Bank new-hire Andy Proctor will start the bank’s commercial lending presence in Richmond from his Innsbrook office. Photo by Evelyn Rupert.
Already packed tight with competition, the Richmond banking market is getting another push from Hampton Roads.
Chesapeake-based Monarch Bank is hungry for a piece of local commercial loan demand and has added an experienced lender and a new presence in Innsbrook.
Monarch hired Andy Proctor, an industry veteran whose stops have included First Union, Jefferson National, Wachovia Securities and GE Real Estate. He’ll work out of an office at 4198 Cox Road.
While the $1 billion bank has operated its residential mortgage arm in Richmond for several years, its expansion into local commercial lending is the next step toward the eventual arrival of Monarch’s first full-service branch in the area.
But that next step will be taken slowly, CEO Brad Schwartz said.
Andy Proctor
“It will be based on finding the right people,” he said. “It’s just a different way to enter the market with a little more precision.”
Schwartz said Monarch has been branching out over the last couple of years. It opened an office in Williamsburg two years ago and in Newport News about a year ago.
“This is kind of the third leg of our westward expansion,” he said.
Proctor will target commercial loans of all sorts, including lines of credit and construction and development loans. Schwartz said Monarch’s lending range for those loans will be $5 million to $15 million. He expects that Monarch will compete in that realm with Union First Market Bank, Xenith Bank and some of the other larger national banks that operate in the region.
Monarch will also see some competition in Richmond from a familiar foe. Hampton Roads-based TowneBank is in the midst of a major push into the Richmond market through its pending acquisition of Franklin Federal Savings Bank. Towne and Monarch are just two of the latest community banks extending outside of their home markets for a bite of Richmond revenue.
A UVA graduate, Proctor said he came to Richmond in 1998 through the merger of Wachovia and Jefferson National Bank.
He joins about 30 Monarch employees in Richmond who work for the company’s Monarch Mortgage arm. It has three offices around Richmond and about 40 offices total in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C.
Monarch has 13 branches, mostly in Hampton Roads.
Proctor will continue to own Atlantic Mortgage and Investment Co., a commercial mortgage intermediary he runs in Innsbrook.
Atlantic helps originate commercial real estate loans and passes them on to lenders for funding. It does a lot of business with the Lingerfelt Cos., with which it shares an office in Innsbrook. Proctor said Atlantic produced about $154 million in loan volume last year.
Those relationships should be useful as Monarch looks to grow in Richmond, Schwartz said.
“You want to be working with the right people,” he said.
Monarch Bank new-hire Andy Proctor will start the bank’s commercial lending presence in Richmond from his Innsbrook office. Photo by Evelyn Rupert.
Already packed tight with competition, the Richmond banking market is getting another push from Hampton Roads.
Chesapeake-based Monarch Bank is hungry for a piece of local commercial loan demand and has added an experienced lender and a new presence in Innsbrook.
Monarch hired Andy Proctor, an industry veteran whose stops have included First Union, Jefferson National, Wachovia Securities and GE Real Estate. He’ll work out of an office at 4198 Cox Road.
While the $1 billion bank has operated its residential mortgage arm in Richmond for several years, its expansion into local commercial lending is the next step toward the eventual arrival of Monarch’s first full-service branch in the area.
But that next step will be taken slowly, CEO Brad Schwartz said.
Andy Proctor
“It will be based on finding the right people,” he said. “It’s just a different way to enter the market with a little more precision.”
Schwartz said Monarch has been branching out over the last couple of years. It opened an office in Williamsburg two years ago and in Newport News about a year ago.
“This is kind of the third leg of our westward expansion,” he said.
Proctor will target commercial loans of all sorts, including lines of credit and construction and development loans. Schwartz said Monarch’s lending range for those loans will be $5 million to $15 million. He expects that Monarch will compete in that realm with Union First Market Bank, Xenith Bank and some of the other larger national banks that operate in the region.
Monarch will also see some competition in Richmond from a familiar foe. Hampton Roads-based TowneBank is in the midst of a major push into the Richmond market through its pending acquisition of Franklin Federal Savings Bank. Towne and Monarch are just two of the latest community banks extending outside of their home markets for a bite of Richmond revenue.
A UVA graduate, Proctor said he came to Richmond in 1998 through the merger of Wachovia and Jefferson National Bank.
He joins about 30 Monarch employees in Richmond who work for the company’s Monarch Mortgage arm. It has three offices around Richmond and about 40 offices total in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C.
Monarch has 13 branches, mostly in Hampton Roads.
Proctor will continue to own Atlantic Mortgage and Investment Co., a commercial mortgage intermediary he runs in Innsbrook.
Atlantic helps originate commercial real estate loans and passes them on to lenders for funding. It does a lot of business with the Lingerfelt Cos., with which it shares an office in Innsbrook. Proctor said Atlantic produced about $154 million in loan volume last year.
Those relationships should be useful as Monarch looks to grow in Richmond, Schwartz said.
“You want to be working with the right people,” he said.