Two additional Colorado banks have snared federal bank aid — and one pulled in the biggest statewide share to date.
Alpine Bank of Glenwood Springs, with $2.7 billion in assets and branches in ski-resort towns, got $70 million. Millennium Bank of Edwards received $7.2 million.
That brings to eight the number of Colorado banks participating in the Troubled Asset Relief Program, allowing the Treasury Department to buy preferred stock.
Since TARP was created last year, $180 million has flowed to Colorado. At the end of March, the state ranked fifth among 11 Western states in pledged funds.
Through the program, banks can obtain capital at cheaper interest rates than in private-equity markets. And they can leverage that money multiple times. Conservatively, $70 million in aid can be turned into $400 million in loans, analysts say.
“It came down to one question for us: Do we feel like we can best help our communities with or without the money?” said Glen Jammaron, vice chairman of Alpine.
TARP funds aren’t released to banks until regulators sign off on a bank’s fiscal health. Both banks passed muster.
Alpine did see an increase in loan losses from 2007 to 2008, and its concentration of commercial real estate loans has exceeded levels recommended by federal regulators, Jammaron acknowledged.
But the bank’s loan standards are time-tested and strong, he said. Jammaron is not predicting how long it will take to spread the money into the community. The bank is creating new loan programs — including one designed to finance property development — to get the dollars moving.
Millennium Bank, meanwhile, also is adamant about using the TARP money primarily to boost lending “to families and business,” said chairman Donald Mengedoth.
Banks on aid list
Alpine Bank, Glenwood Springs, $70 million
CoBiz Financial, Denver, $64.4 million
Bankers’ Bank of the West, Denver, $12.6 million
ColoEast Bankshares, Lamar, $10 million
First Western Financial, Denver, $8.5 million
Millennium Bank, Edwards, $7.26 million
First Southwest Bank, Alamosa, $5.5 million
Columbine Capital, Buena Vista, $2.2 million
Source: U.S. Treasury Department
