Though b1BANK is now the second-largest Louisiana-based bank, its leaders chuckle at any notion that the financial institution’s recent name change signals a future climb to the top rung on the ladder.
In 14 years, parent company Business First Bancshares has gone through four acquisitions, expansions into seven new markets, one rebranding, and one change in top leadership. The Baton Rouge-based bank’s assets have leaped from $110 million in 2006 to $3.5 billion.
The bank’s latest and largest acquisition to date, that of Pedestal Bancshares Inc., which became effective May 1, increased its assets by some $1.2 billion. CEO Jude Melville says he went through with the merger despite the economic concerns surrounding the COVID-19 epidemic.
It was already the largest depository bank in the state, Melville says. But when the merger between IBERIABANK and First Horizon National Corp. was completed in early July and the combined company cemented its home in Memphis, Tennessee, b1BANK became the second-largest community bank still based in the state, with 26 branches in Louisiana and Texas.
At its core, b1BANK is a community business bank. That’s what former Gov. Buddy Roemer and his investors set out to establish in 2006, and that’s what Melville (Roemer’s nephew) and his team continue to push for today.
“A lot of people don’t think of a bank as a startup business, but we actually started up. We took venture-type risk and then over time, as you build your business and you go through stages of growth, like any other business you have to continue to adapt and evolve,” Melville says.
But the bank has more humble origins than its $3.5 billion in assets might make it appear. A little less than 15 years ago, the bank was just inching its toe in the door of the Baton Rouge market.
Read the full story about the bank’s evolution from the latest edition of Business Report.
