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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

A Little Bank Finds The Rewards Of Simplicity United Security Offers Comfort Zone

William “Bud” Dashiell opened the May 14 annual meeting of United Security Bancorporation shareholders wholly in character.

“I’d stand up,” he told his small audience, “but I put this tie on and it absolutely saps my strength.”

Chuckles rippled through the room. Most present know an open-collared Dashiell who has guided their bank since its opening 22 years ago in a double-wide trailer parked in Chewelah.

They are as comfortable with him as he is in the cowboy boots he has favored for almost 30 years. The way he and his board have groomed United Security Bank and its Columbia Basin twin, Home Security Bank, into extremely successful institutions has a lot to do with their contentment.

Dashiell and United’s other officers have kept things simple.

In an age of electronic banking, United has no automated teller machines. Nor has it joined the line of banks fitted between the Huggies and the breadsticks in grocery stores.

That bend towards independent thinking carries over into positioning the bank to survive, if not thrive, as mergers transform the industry.

Buying another bank or branches expedites expansion, Dashiell said. But when such assets aren’t available the bank is not reluctant to erect its own building.

The original backers started with $500,000. The trailer was so cramped the first loan was closed in the bathroom.

And Dashiell recalled for shareholders that United Security stock traded out of a desk drawer because no broker would make a market.

But back then there was just one bank in Chewelah, and research indicated many in the community were not receiving the banking services they wanted. United Security’s organizers wanted an alternative, Dashiell said.

“Those people felt they had something to accomplish,” he said.

Now, the trailer is gone, the stock went public last year on the Nasdaq national over-the-counter market, and the $500,000 stake has multiplied into a company with $25.7 million in stockholder equity.

Country banking - with cravat - is turning heads in the city.

Although United’s beginnings are in Stevens County, an offshoot planted at Northpointe six years ago has become the institution’s taproot.

The branch has a $50 million loan portfolio - about one-third the bancorporation’s total - and $37 million in deposits, an imbalance Dashiell said the bank has been able to maintain because its losses are so minuscule.

He said United had about exhausted the growth potential at its Chewelah, Colville, Kettle Falls and Ione branches when officers decided to look south.

“We had sort of filled up,” he said.

Although the bank had investors and customers who were encouraging the bank to expand out of Stevens and Pend Oreille counties, he conceded he was apprehensive about the bank’s chances in the competitive Spokane market.

A Stevens County native, Dashiell had progressed in banking without a college degree or experience in a community larger than Colville.

A lone Shopko was the only clue to the retail and office explosion that was to replace the weed patch between Highway 2 and Nevada.

But with reassurances from board members like Dorothy Curry, the branch opened in May 1990. Success came quickly, helped by the announcement that Northpointe would open next door.

“The gods were looking at us,” Dashiell said.

He credits Senior Vice President and Loan Administrator Dan Murray for scrutinizing loans based not just on balance sheets and cash flow, but on character as well.

“We’re talking about loans that take a little imagination,” he said. “If we can get an appraisal in a week, we can get a loan in a week.”

United itself, he said, once waited weeks for a bank with which it had a long-standing relationship to approve a construction loan.

Murray said United, like other banks, has been hard-pressed to compete for consumer loans. Commercial loans are another matter.

“We can still look at the gray deals and make them work,” he said.

Dashiell concedes the service and willingness to work with customers comes with a pricetag. “We’re not the cheapest place in town,” he said.

That has not slowed United’s progress in Spokane. The bank opened branches in the Spokane Valley and downtown last year, and both are near the break-even point.

The additions brought the total for United to seven.

Dashiell said officials hope to start work on a South Hill location by the end of this year.

Meanwhile, smaller Home Security Bank pushed ahead of United in terms of loan growth in 1995, reflecting the Columbia Basin’s prosperity.

Home Security loans grew 18 percent vs. 15 percent for United Security.

Dashiell said those results were boosted by a phenomenal branch startup in Yakima. Opened in September, the facility was breaking even by year-end. The bank is considering adding another Yakima second location, which would bring Home Security’s complement to four.

That willingness to start from scratch - de novo, in industry parlance - is not the only unorthodox approach taken by United.

United Security Bancorporation was among the bidders for branches in the Yakima Basin shed by U.S. Bancorp as a result of its merger with West One Bank, Dashiell said.

The company also took a run at Inland Empire Bank in Eastern Oregon, but was outbid by Walla Walla-based First Savings Bank of Washington.

Dashiell said holding company officials are looking for opportunities that fit with the two existing banks.

At their May meeting, the stockholders approved a trebling of the number of authorized shares to 15 million. The increase will simplify potential mergers, which are frequently done on a stock-for-stock basis, Dashiell said.

But he and Murray stress that United will not overextend its resources for the sake of growth.

Murray said there is no proof mergers increase institutional efficiency. With a ratio of overhead to loans of less than 60 percent - considered exceptional within the industry - United has little to gain from consolidation for consolidation’s sake, he said.

Officers want to protect customers and staff, he said.

Dashiell, who refers to other banks by the first names of their top executives, said he would like to see small banks pool auditing and other functions to control costs.

At United, he noted, “We’re getting more done with less people than we ever have.”

The company employs 140.

Dashiell said the trick for bank officials is finding a size that keeps the bank growing fast enough to discourage shareholders from selling out.

“I don’t know of anybody in this corporation who wants to sell this thing,” Dashiell said.

There was no sign of merger mania among the shareholders.

In fact, the activity that excited the most discussion was the Junior Livestock Show.

When Spokane County commissioners threatened to substantially increase the costs of using the fairgrounds, United stepped in with about $7,500 to assure the show would go on this year.

The contribution signifies United’s dedication to its home communities as much as its business activities, shareholders said.

Dashiell told the pleased shareholders bank officials were discussing ways of making United’s relationship with the fair an ongoing one.

“It needed to be done,” he said. “We didn’t want the livestock show jeopardized.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo; Graphic: USBN’s improving numbers