As small charters continue to be bought up by larger banks and credit unions, Spokane Valley-based State Bank Northwest bucks that trend, and it’s thriving despite the industry’s consolidations, says Gregory Deckard, CEO and chairman of the bank.

“(State Bank Northwest) has the character of what I call a true community bank: small in asset size; a small, delineated market area; funding of loans with local deposits; and closely held ownership,” says Deckard.

To this day, the bank’s owners are still local, and 70% of stockholders are also on the board of directors, says Deckard. The other 30% include former directors, employees, people who invested when the bank came to Spokane, and members of the original founding family who’ve had shares passed down through the generations, he says. 

“When we meet, it’s the owners actually making those decisions, and the owners are local,” he says.

Maintaining private, regional ownership enables State Bank Northwest to prioritize what’s best for both the bank and the community in the long run, he says. It also means the charter doesn’t need to focus on what Wall Street would expect from its financial institutions—such as earnings and growth solely for the sake of them.

“I’m very blessed to lead our model of closely held local decision making, where we don’t have to answer to Wall Street,” says Deckard.

Indeed, State Bank Northwest follows the relationship banking model. Bankers know their clients by name, and they treat their clients like people, not just account numbers, he says.

“We’re banking individually, with people who want high touch, high service,” Deckard says. 

State Bank Northwest specializes in agricultural banking, but it also focuses on small business owners, private banking, and offers a full real estate lending department. That includes in-house home equity loans, construction loans, mortgage refinancing, and related services. Because it caters to those niches, State Bank Northwest is less of a consumer bank, he notes.

In 1902, the Johnson family established State Bank Northwest in Garfield, Washington, about an hour south of Spokane. Originally, the family intended to open a hardware store in that town. They “discovered Garfield already had two hardware stores, so they opened a bank instead,” says Deckard.

Although it has had a presence in Spokane since 1999, State Bank Northwest moved its headquarters to Spokane Valley in 2008, where it occupies about 14,400 square feet at 12902 E. Sprague, he says. Another Spokane branch is located at 9727 N. Nevada.

In the past three years, State Bank Northwest has opened three new branches around rural Eastern Washington: two in Whitman County, in the cities of Colfax and Palouse, and one in the town of Rockford, in Spokane County.

In total, State Bank Northwest features six full-service branches. Each branch offers the full array of products and services a client can expect at a full-service bank, including lending, deposit taking, all types of accounts, debit and credit cards, and ATMs, says Deckard. All 44 of the bank’s employees operate out of those branches. 

Currently, State Bank Northwest's capital leverage ratio is roughly 12.5%, and its risk-based capital ratio is about 16%. State Bank Northwest has about $225 million in total assets, says Deckard.

Looking forward, the bank is expected to see modest year-over-year asset growth of about 5%, he says. It saw about 11% growth in total average outstanding loans throughout its last fiscal year, says Deckard. 

Deckard has been CEO for 24 years and is also involved with the Independent Community Bankers of America. Being active within that organization enables State Bank Northwest and the larger Spokane region to have a national voice and bring attention to banking topics important to our community, such as agriculture, real estate, and tourism, says Deckard. 

“Those unique things in our economy and region, we’re able to articulate and advocate for,” says Deckard.

State Bank Northwest’s Spokane locations are open Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The financial institution owns and operates six ATMS at each of its physical locations, and is part of a larger network of ATMS that can be accessed through MoneyPass, says Deckard.