Lakeside Bank of Lake Charles is the only truly new, federally insured bank that started in the U.S. this year. The bank has quite a few Baton Rouge ties. Chief among them is Hartie Spence, Lakeside’s CEO, who was the president and chairman of Hancock Bank Louisiana from the late 1990s to the early part of the 2000s. Spence told The New York Times that he thought it was a good time to get into the banking business, despite the recession and the financial crisis. “You can manage a good bank in a bad economy, particularly when you are at the bottom,” he told the newspaper. Louisiana has been a good market for banks. While more than 280 small banks and community thrifts have failed since January 2008, the only chain based in Louisiana to go out of business was Covington-based Statewide Bank. Read the New York Times story about Lakeside here.
‘New York Times’ profiles start-up Lake Charles bank
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