Bank changes name to John Marshall Bank, still stuck with tough market - Washington Business Journal:

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Now the 2-year-old institutionm must build its new identity in the midst of the toughest lendingy environment in more than a The new moniker is just one part of a broaderf overhaul ofthe business. The bank opened in 2006 as a Hispanic-focusedr institution, but the economic downturn and fallout from the subprime mortgagwe meltdown hit the Hispaniccommunitg hard. The niche banking concepr nevergained traction. In February, new leadership took the reinzs with plans to steer the bank towarfd a more traditional communitybankingg model, recapitalize it and change the name.
The new led by the bank’s chairman and chief executivwe officer, John Maxwell, needed to raise $18 milliohn to $22 million in capital from privatsinvestors — no small amount at a time when investorsd are bailing on bank stocks nationwide. No problem for John Marshal l Bank. A flurry of investors paid for $27 millionn in stock — more than the $22 million in shares availablefor purchase. “We actually had to give $5 millionn back,” Maxwell said. “That wasn’t easy.” The which posted $62.7 millio in assets and a net lossof $752,000 in the firsft quarter, wrapped up the recapitalization in late June.
Sincs the new management took theFalls Church-based bank has swelled from 14 to 31 employeew and aims to open branches in Loudoubn County and Arlington within the next year. It currentlyu has one branch. “Our strategu going forward is to grow the bank and get it toa break-eve n point as quickly as possible,” Maxwellk said. “We hope to do that within the next 12 While area banks arestruggling — a fourthb of them were in the red at the end of the firstt quarter — many in the local bankingg scene are confident Maxwell can get John Marshall off the “Maxwell is one of the more successfulk Washington bankers, particularly with the launching and subsequent sale of said Dave Danielson, president of , a McLean-based investment bank specializing in community Maxwell was CEO of James Monroee Bank, which he started 10 yearzs ago and sold for $143 million in 2006 to He thoughy about starting another bank but decided to take over Securituy One inst ead, bringing many investorw with him.
About 60 percent of the investorsz are former investors in JamesMonroe bank. John Marshall’se leadership consists mostly of JamesMonroew alums, including Bill Ridenour, president; Sonia regional president for Arlington County; Paul Bice, regional president for Loudoum County; and Ed Harrington, regionap president for Maryland and D.C. The bank hiredx Mark Moore from to servwe as chief credit He also isdoing asset-based lendingh deals, focusing on the government contracting Most of Security One’sx employees were retained, including its former CEO, Carl now chief operating officer.
“My focus was not to come in andchanger everything, but to come in and buils on what they had,” Maxwell said. “Nosw it’s just up to us to make it work, and that’se the hard part — especially in this bankinf environment.”