BANKING BOOM: SEVEN BANKS, 22 LOCATIONS

Boatmen's Bancshares Inc. is one of the 40 largest bank holding companies in the U.S., and the largest commercial banking organization in Missouri.

Mercantile Bancorporation has been listed second on a list of the largest St. Louis-area banks and bank holding companies.

Capital Bancorporation and First Exchange Bank, both headquartered in Cape Girardeau, have been listed 12th and 14th, respectively, on the St. Louis list of largest area banks.

The four banks all have one thing in common: Each has operations in Cape Girardeau, the regional retail hub of Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois.

A total of seven banks operate in Cape Girardeau. Others include South East Bank, AmeriFirst Bank, and the newest operation in the city, First National Bank.

Add up the bank branches in Cape Girardeau and Jackson, and Cape countians have a total of 22 places they can do their banking.

Bankers in Cape Girardeau say the large number of banks creates good competition that results in better service and convenience for banking customers.

Boatmen's, which announced plans in 1991 to acquire a small Oklahoma City-based bank, announced plans last month to acquire Superior Federal Bank, the largest thrift institution in Arkansas. The two acquisitions added a total of 43 branches to Boatmen's list of facilities, which now includes more than 220 in Missouri, Illinois, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Arkansas.

Boatmen's operates a total of six facilities in Cape County, including five sites in Cape Girardeau. The main location is at 2001 William, with branches at 2 S. Mount Auburn Road; 800 N. Kingshighway, 100 Broadway and at Southeast Missouri State University. The Jackson bank is at 1846 E. Jackson Road. In addition, Boatmen's has extended its automatic teller machine services (ATM) to a Cape Girardeau grocery store, Schnucks, where a new ATM is near the customer service area.

"We've invested more than a million dollars in facility improvements in Cape County during the past year," said James P. Limbaugh, president of Boatmen's Bank of Cape Girardeau. "We added the drive-through operation downtown and made some other improvements on the facility.

"The new facility at Jackson allows us to penetrate the Jackson market," he said. "So far, the response there has far exceeded our expectations. The new center there also provided 10 new jobs. We're also pleased with the new ATM at Schnucks. The traffic count there has been substantial, and the inside ATM is a good fit for both companies."

The banking market in the area has not grown significantly, said Limbaugh. "Because of that, the banking industry is continuing to provide better services and more convenience for its customers," he said. "Competition is requiring us to be better sales people and marketers."

"Banking in Cape Girardeau is a very competitive situation," said O.J. Miller, president of Mercantile Bank of Cape Girardeau. "Although our economy here is better than in some areas, we're not seeing a lot of new industry, which is necessary to create additional deposits."

Mercantile Bancorporation, headquartered in St. Louis, owns 26 banks in Missouri and western Illinois, and a total of 115 nationally.

Three are in Cape Girardeau.

"Banks here are offering customers better service," said Miller. "We have facilities in West Park Mall and at Town Plaza Shopping Center. We feel we offer convenient locations, and we've been pleased with our business here."

Mercantile's main bank, at 325 N. Kingshighway, was also expanded in late 1990.

"Competition is healthy and good for the community," said Percy Huston, president of South East Missouri Bank, 111 S. Broadview. "Our bank is niche-oriented and we don't feel any big threat from new banks in town."

Huston said that South East Bank has established itself as a retail bank and a consumer bank.

"We're not surprised that new banks have settled here," said Huston. "Two of the city's largest savings and loan institutions are no longer."

He was referring to First Federal Savings and Loan and Colonial Federal Savings and Loan, which were sold by the Feds because of financial difficulties.

"Both of these financial institutions provided checking account services," said Huston. "When they closed there was a lot of deposit base."

Huston said South East Bank experienced substantial growth during 1990 and 1991, a lot of it from the folded S&Ls.

"We've greatly expanded our facilities during the past year," he said. "We added six drive-through lanes, an ATM and doubled the size of the building.

"We also doubled the size of our lending staff," he said. "We specialize in consumer lending such as automobiles, boats."

"We're pleased with the progress our bank has made since it opened here in May of 1990," said James Edward Goble, who was named president and chief executive officer of AmeriFirst Bank in June. "We feel we're making the right kinds of decisions to get to the levels that we're expecting."

AmeriFirst moved into its new building at 3060 William in mid-1991 after operating out of a facility at Independence and Kingshighway for more than a year.

Goble came to Cape Girardeau from Lake of the Ozarks, where he had served as president of Ozarks National Bank. He has more than 16 years of experience in banking.

First National Bank is the newest operation in Cape Girardeau. It is in the former Colonial Federal Savings and Loan building, 2027 Broadway. The facility opened Sept. 30. Larry Miller is president of the firm.

"Our business is up to expectations," said Miller. "With Cape Girardeau being a retail hub, there are enough deposits out there for all the banking institutions. The economy here is pretty good compared to other areas of the country."

First National Bank purchased the former Colonial building and filed application for a full-service banking operation in April, marking the second transaction with the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) for First National. First National earlier purchased Colonial Savings deposits and assets from the Chaffee and Caruthersville branches.

First National has four facilities: Cape Girardeau, Chaffee, Caruthersville and Sikeston. Recently, the bank started construction of a 55,000-square-foot headquarters building in Sikeston.

With its acquisition of Chaffee and Caruthersville deposits last year, the bank is the largest in Scott County, with assets in excess of $145 million.

Capital Bancorporation, headquartered at Cape Girardeau, has a total of 19 facilities, including those in Clayton in St. Louis County, Columbia, and Bonne Terre, with assets of $590,910,000.

Capital has a number of operations in Cape County, including its headquarters building at 407 N. Kingshighway and the Capital Bank of Cape Girardeau at 101 S. Mount Auburn Road. A branch is also at 325 Broadway. Jackson sites are at 101 W. Main, 2210 Highway 61 East, and 727 W. Main.

"With the number of banks we have in the community, we're in a competitive situation, which is good for consumers," said Charles Daniel, president of Capital Bank here.

"The bank here are well managed, and offer basically the same services," said Daniel. "Customers can shop around."

First Exchange Bank, headquartered in Cape Girardeau, operates a total of 21 facilities, including the St. Louis area. The bank has four area facilities, including one in Cape Girardeau at 160 S. Broadview. Other sites are at 2025 Highway 61 East and 101 Court, both in Jackson, and at Fruitland.

David Prough, who recently joined Exchange Bank of Cape Girardeau as president and CEO, echoed remarks that banking competition results in better service for the customer.

"The emphasis is on better service, quality service and convenience for the customer," he said.