Retail and Commercial Banking
The Bank currently conducts business within Virginia from ten full-service offices
and three limited service offices, one loan production office, and three mortgage
production offices. Four of the full-service offices are located in Lynchburg,
Virginia, one full-service location is located in Madison Heights, Virginia,
one is located in the Town of Amherst, Virginia, one is located in Forest, Virginia,
one is located in the City of Bedford, Virginia, one is located in the Town
of Altavista, Virginia, and one is located in the City of Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Of the limited services branches, one is located in the Westminster-Canterbury
facilities in Lynchburg, one is located in the Westminster-Canterbury facilities
in Charlottesville, Virginia and one is located in the Pantops area of Charlottesville.
The Bank established a mortgage loan origination division that conducts business
under the name “Bank of the James Mortgage, a Division of Bank of the
James.” The mortgage division conducts business primarily from the division’s
main office located in the Forest branch of the Bank. In addition, in 2013 the
Bank expanded into Charlottesville with a loan production office (which also
houses the limited service branch referenced above) and Roanoke, Virginia with
a mortgage/loan production office.
Deposit Services. Deposits are a major source of our funding. The Bank offers
a full range of deposit services that are typically available in most banks
and other financial institutions including checking accounts, savings accounts
and other time deposits of various types, ranging from daily money market accounts
to longer-term certificates of deposit. The transaction accounts and time certificates
are tailored to the Bank’s market area at rates competitive to those offered
in the area. In addition, the Bank offers its customers Individual Retirement
Accounts (IRAs) and Health Care Savings Accounts (HSAs). All deposit accounts
are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the “FDIC”)
up to the maximum amount allowed by law (generally, $250,000 per depositor,
subject to aggregation rules). The Bank solicits such accounts from individuals,
businesses, associations and organizations, and governmental authorities.
Lending Services. The Bank offers a full range of short- to medium-term commercial
and consumer loans. Our primary focus is on making loans to small businesses
and consumers in the Region 2000 (Lynchburg, Amherst, Bedford, Campbell) area,
Charlottesville, Harrisonburg, and Roanoke. In addition, we also provide a wide
range of real estate finance services. Commercial loans include both secured
and unsecured loans for working capital (including inventory and receivables),
business expansion (including acquisition of real estate and improvements),
and purchase of equipment and machinery. Consumer loans include secured and
unsecured loans for financing automobiles, home improvements, education and
personal investments. Additionally, the Bank originates fixed and floating-rate
mortgage loans and real estate construction and acquisition loans. Where appropriate,
the Bank attempts to limit interest rate risk through the use of variable interest
rates and terms of less than five years.
In general, the Bank offers the following lending services:
• Commercial Business Lending. We make loans to small- and medium-sized
businesses in Region 2000, Charlottesville, Harrisonburg, and Roanoke for purposes
such as purchases of equipment, facilities upgrades, inventory acquisition and
various working capital purposes.
• Real Estate Construction. We make commercial and residential construction
and development loans to customers in our market area.
• Commercial Real Estate Mortgage. We make loans to borrowers secured
by commercial real estate. In underwriting these types of loans we consider
the historic and projected future cash flows of the real estate.
• Consumer. We offer various types of secured and unsecured consumer
loans, including personal loans, lines of credit, overdraft lines of credit,
automobile loans, installment loans, demand loans, and home equity loans. We
make consumer loans primarily for personal, family or household purposes.
• Loan Participations. We sell loan participations in the ordinary course
of business when a loan originated by us exceeds our legal lending limit or
we otherwise want to share risk with another bank. We also purchase loan participations
from time to time from other banks in the ordinary course of business, usually
without recourse against that bank. Purchased loan participations are underwritten
in accordance with our loan policy and represent a source of loan growth.
Other Banking Services. Other services offered by the Bank include safe deposit
boxes, traveler’s checks, direct deposit of payroll and social security
checks, automatic drafts for various accounts, treasury management services
and credit card merchant services. The Bank also is associated with a shared
network of automated teller machines (ATMs) that may be used by Bank customers
throughout Virginia, the United States, and internationally.
The Bank intends to introduce new products and services desired by the public
and as permitted by the regulatory authorities. The Bank remains committed to
meeting the challenges that require technology. The Bank provides its customers
with access to the latest technological products, such as telephone banking
and internet banking, including on-line bill pay. This service allows customers
to handle routine transactions using a standard touch tone telephone, applications
for mobile devices, and via the internet at the Bank’s website.
Mortgage Banking. The Bank, through Bank of the James Mortgage, a Division
of Bank of the James (the “Mortgage Division”) originates conforming
and non-conforming home mortgages primarily in the Region 2000 area. As part
of the Bank’s overall risk management strategy, the loans originated and
closed by the Mortgage Division are pre-sold to major mortgage banking or other
financial institutions. Effective April 1, 2011, the Mortgage Division began
funding these pre-sold loans. The loans are transferred promptly, typically
within 2 to 3 business days, to the buyer for a pre-arranged price. Management
believes that there is acceptable risk associated with this arrangement.
Other Activities
We provide brokerage and investment services through the Bank’s Investment
division (“Investment”). The Investment division provides securities
brokerage services to Bank customers and others through an agreement with Infinex
Financial Group, LLC (“Infinex”), a registered broker-dealer. Under
our agreement, Infinex operates a service center at 615 Church Street, Lynchburg,
Virginia. To date the operating results of the Investment division have not
had a material impact on our financial performance.
We provide insurance and annuity products through BOTJ Insurance as an agent
for national insurance companies. As of the date hereof, we offer the following
insurance products: credit life, life insurance, fixed annuities, and disability
insurance. We began providing these services in September 2008. To date the
operating results of BOTJ Insurance have not had a material impact on our financial
performance.