Business Description
The Company is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia and is the holding company
for Essex Bank, a Virginia state bank with 21 full-service offices in Virginia
and Maryland. The Bank also operates two loan production offices in Virginia.
The Bank was established in 1926. The Bank engages in a general commercial banking
business and provides a wide range of financial services primarily to individuals
and small businesses, including individual and commercial demand and time deposit
accounts, commercial and industrial loans, consumer and small business loans,
real estate and mortgage loans, investment services, on-line and mobile banking
products, and safe deposit box facilities. Fourteen full-service offices are
located in Virginia, from the Chesapeake Bay to just west of Richmond, and seven
are located in Maryland along the Baltimore-Washington corridor.
Essex Services, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Bank. Essex Services
and its financial consultants offer a broad range of investment products and
alternatives through an affiliation with Infinex Investments, Inc., an independent
broker-dealer. It also offers insurance products through an ownership interest
in Bankers Insurance, LLC, an independent insurance agency. Essex Services was
formed to sell title insurance to the Bank’s mortgage loan customers.
The Company’s strategy is to be recognized as the premier provider of
financial services by exceeding the service expectations of all of its customers
and shareholders while creating a rewarding environment for its employees. The
Company will accomplish this goal while operating in a safe and sound manner
to provide a competitive return to its investors.
The Company has adopted and implemented a formal strategic plan that centers
on the following key issues:
Ensuring profitable controlled growth in earnings
Improving the overall risk profile of the Company through enterprise risk management
Solidifying strong management practices with a focus on value added
The Company also terminated its shared loss agreement with the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation (the “FDIC”), which has a significant positive
impact on earnings going forward.
The Company expects to continue this growth through a combination of de novo
branching, expansion of loan production offices and possible acquisitions that
are immediately accretive in value.
Other specific priorities, as outlined in the Company’s strategic plan,
include the following matters:
Organically growing the size of the loan portfolio
Changing the deposit mix to more transaction-based accounts by increasing demand
deposits
Utilizing technology to attract new customers and lower costs
Continuing to reduce non-performing assets and other real estate owned
Enhancing the delivery system of its fee-based products
Expanding market share throughout Virginia and Maryland
The Company believes that it has the ability and capacity to successful execute
its strategies, which will enhance the major profit drivers of the Company.
The implementation of these strategies will lead to an increase in profitability
for shareholders.
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