National Bank of Arizona

Bank looks to lend despite misconceptions

As the economic recovery continues, it’s no secret that access to small business capital is key to ensuring tough times remain a past problem.

According to Ward Hickey (left), business banking manager at National Bank of Arizona, this issue is especially important here.

“We realize that over 95 percent of Arizona are small businesses that have a lot of employees, a lot of revenue and a lot of banking needs,” Hickey said. “So we are aggressively looking for lending opportunities in the small-business community.”

Although National Bank of Arizona is owned by Zions Bancorporation in Salt Lake City, the company only services customers in Arizona. It has more than 70 branches in 55 Arizona communities and owns more than $4.5 billion in assets.

Hickey said small business owners’ appetites for financing is on the rise. In years past, the common belief, especially among small business owners who don’t regularly rely on bank credit, was that banks stopped lending.

“Should you have a specific credit need, like a building loan or line of credit, and you went and talked to National Bank of Arizona, I think you’d be surprised at how quickly we can turn that around and how fast we want to get that product available to you,” he said.

Banking misconceptions have created challenges in attracting new customers to National Bank of Arizona, as have varying beliefs about the economy’s future. However, Hickey stressed the bank keeps growing and is focusing all efforts on lending additional money and providing more deposit services.

As for an industry outlook, he expects we’ll see the small-business community use banks more to help drive growth.

“The trend that I see is small business (owners) being very focused on what products –specifically banking products – they use and what those costs are and how those create value for their business.”

– Written by Tom Trush.