Page 24 - BusinessWest August 8, 2022

Wall Street bank or a Silicon Valley fintech firm, you’re probably not going to get that level of service.”
And in granting that kind of quick, personal service, Sullivan said the bank is growing the economy by encouraging the region’s exten- sive small-business ecosystem.
“We serve the entrepreneurs, people with energy and a lot of enthusiasm and optimism by nature. A lot of really smart, enthusi- astic people are living here who have good ideas, and turning those good ideas into real businesses is an incredible challenge,” he said. “So, I think our customer base is inherently a little more optimistic about the future and thinking about growth, and it’s great to work with people like that.”
Just past its three-year anniversary — the time when the startup phase is over and regulators “take some of the handcuffs off,” Sul-
New Valley’s third branch, at 333 Elm St. in West Springfield, is expected to open in September.
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livan said — New Valley is slightly ahead of the pace of its original business plan. Deposit growth is certainly ahead of schedule, but that’s true of all banks after the federal government poured trillions of stimulus dollars into the economy between mid-2000 and early 2021.
But loan growth is on target at New Valley as well, with about $175 million in outstanding loans, about $25 million of that resi-
“We just continue to execute on our plan. We have plenty of liquidity, plenty of capital. We can continue to grow for a couple more years with the framework that we have.”
dential and the rest commercial.
“The pipeline is good,” he said. “We’re in a time now when rates
have gone up, there’s a lot of talk about a recession, and you hope it’s not a self-fulfilling prophecy, where if enough people talk about a recession, they’ll kind of speak it into existence. We’re cautious about the end of this year and going into 2023, but our pipeline is as big as it’s been. We’re having really solid production months, with lots of new customers signing up with us every month.”
As a result, he expects that outstanding-loan figure to top $200 million by year’s end, and maybe by the third quarter. “We just con- tinue to execute on our plan. We have plenty of liquidity, plenty of capital. We can continue to grow for a couple more years with the framework that we have.”
Over the River
While the last bank launched in Springfield before New Val-
24 AUGUST 8, 2022
BANKING & FINANCE BusinessWest