RiverBank, which opened for business here in 2006, notched its first profitable calendar year in 2009, posting net income of $592,000, according to data it has filed with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

That was up sharply from losses of $282,000 in 2008 and $797,000 in 2007.

"We were really fortunate and pleased," says President and CEO Duane Brandenburg. "In today's banking environment, that's probably an accomplishment considering the trouble a lot of people have had. We were very frugal. We were very concerned about our shareholders and getting to a point where we could get a return."

The privately held bank had total loans of $126.6 million and deposits of $139.2 million as of Dec. 31, up from $119.1 million and $120.1 million, respectively, at the end of 2008. It ended last year with total assets of $153.1 million, up 15 percent from $133.5 million a year earlier and up 51 percent from $101.2 million at the end of 2007, its first full year of operation, the FDIC data show.

Brandenburg says he anticipates overall growth of 6 percent to 8 percent this year.

With many financial institutions still struggling due to the lingering recession, he says, "There's a migration of people out there saying, 'Maybe we need to make a switch.' We're seeing more opportunities because people are looking for options. I think we have positioned ourselves well as a small-business bank to take advantage of that."

Despite his generally upbeat outlook for RiverBank, he says, "Certainly Spokane's economy is still faced with an awful lot of challenges. I see the struggles that our customers are going through, so we're looking for a better day."

RiverBank had recorded its first profitable month in July 2007, 14 months after opening its doors, which Brandenburg had said was faster than projected and probably four or five months ahead of the industry norm for a new bank. The changing interest-rate climate, though, combined with the prolonged economic slowdown, made it difficult for the bank to sustain that profitability on a month-to-month basis.

Brandenburg had said a year ago that he didn't anticipate much growth in 2009, partly because of economic considerations, but also because the bank was beginning to mature, which made it more difficult to replace credit that's being paid off.

The year turned out a bit better than he projected, though, he says, because, "We were able to leverage our assets to where we had a good, stable source of income."

RiverBank is a niche bank that offers highly personalized services, mostly to small-business and commercial clients in the Spokane area, and has said it has no interest in servicing a broad clientele or growing to a larger size by adding branches.

The bank occupies most of the top two floors of a five-story building at 203 E. Spokane Falls Boulevard, plus has a ground-floor branch there. It also occupies a 3,800-square-foot building just west of there where it has some computer operations and keeps concierge courier vehicles.