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No business epitomizes surviving the Great Recession in Southern Nevada than Town & Country Bank, which now considers itself well-positioned in the recovering economy.
The business-oriented community bank, which opened in April 2002, rode the wave of economic development and growth in Las Vegas in the early part of last decade.
The bank was a startup venture of West Point Bancorp. Inc., a Nebraska-based bank holding company that saw potential in the Las Vegas market. West Point, formed in 1977, owns banks in Nebraska and one in Iowa. Town & Country expanded to add three branches in the valley before the recession.
When the nation's financial industry collapsed and the economy tanked, Town & Country was hit hard and was operating under Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. consent order in the aftermath of the recession. It lost $4.6 million in 2012, but by 2013 it was profitable again and has remained so.
That happened in an environment in which hundreds of Nevada businesses shuttered and banks either closed or merged.
"We lost a lot of banks in Nevada. If you look at those numbers, there were as many as 24 state-chartered banks, and now it's down to eight community banks," said Darrel Small, president and chief executive officer, who came on board in 2013. "Recently, the Las Vegas economy has experienced some welcomed recovery. Stabilizing property values and increased business activity are...