Troop Buildup

A Bank of America hiring spree is bringing dozens of new small-business bankers to the San Fernando Valley region. Twenty-two bankers have already been hired in the north and west portions of the San Fernando Valley since January, and more hires are slated for surrounding communities by the end of the year. The bank expects to hire six new small business bankers in the Glendale-Burbank area, three in the Conejo Valley, two in Simi Valley, two in the Santa Clarita Valley and one in the Antelope Valley, according to Bank of America officials. The move is part of a much larger wave of hires for Bank of America, which plans to add more than 1,000 new small business bankers nationwide. There have already been a total of 110 hires in the greater Los Angeles area, which is one of three markets to receive the first round of new employees. The other markets include Dallas and the Baltimore-Washington, DC area. About 85 percent of the Los Angeles-area’s new small business bankers are new to the company, said Lynn Fernandez, who was recently named Bank of America’s small business banker region executive for the Pacific Southwest region. She said the hiring effort focused on locals and those with experience in a variety of backgrounds, such as business and financial services, business consulting and entrepreneurship. Personalized service With the Small Business Banker program in place, the new bankers will consult with small business owners at their companies to assess their banking needs. The focus of the program is on businesses with annual revenues between $250,000 and $3 million. “(Owners of) small businesses, they’re very busy people and they appreciate the fact that you come in and spend time with their business,” Fernandez said. “They appreciate the fact that they don’t have to travel.” Another part of the bankers’ role will be to interact with local business organizations, such as the Valley Economic Development Center, the Valley Industry and Commerce Association and the Valley Economic Alliance. The new program, which was announced last fall, was spearheaded after feedback from customers showed there was demand for more specialized services for small businesses. Dawn Belton, who manages Bank of America’s San Fernando Valley locations, said she has already noticed the benefits the new bankers provide. “As a result of their efforts to develop business in the areas and because of all the book of business that many of them had before they joined our team, we’ve been able to get hundreds of new consumer relationships,” Belton said. “The strategy is really paying off already.” Belton said those relationships have resulted in the bank being able to set up employers and employees with business and personal banking services. She also said the small business bankers are able to introduce customers to some of Bank of America’s newest products, such as a scanning service that allows business owners to make deposits without having to leave their offices. Bank officials also said some of the most popular products among small business clients are offered in an online banking suite. With the suite, the business owners can manage their accounts online, send their bills directly to the vendor’s bank, use online payroll services for up to 150 employees and use express invoicing. Increased lending Bank of America increased its small business lending to $92 billion in 2010, representing a year-over-year increase of $10.5 billion, Fernandez said. She added that the bank is hoping the trend will continue as the economy picks up. The bank has also reached out to its business clientele in other ways. Last year, Bank of America increased credit to small businesses to $18 billion from $16.5 billion the previous year. In June, it increased its spending with small, medium-sized and diverse businesses, committing to purchasing $10 billion in products and services from those suppliers over five years. As of last August, the bank also started awarding $10 million in grants to non-profit leaders to use for loan loss reserves, which are required to access federal micro-lending capital.