March 23, 2009

Though the optimism of CEOs at the top of the financial industry has not always proven to be well founded amidst the nation's economic downturn, Randy Hanks insists he has good reason to be positive."The opportunities that we've had over the last six months .¤.¤. to talk to premier-type clients in the market, individuals and businesses and business owners, has been phenomenal," said Hanks, president and CEO of First Choice Bank, a growing but relatively small institution that opened in Lawrence in March 2007.

"It's really that they're concerned, most of these folks have been, with large banks," Hanks said. "If they haven't already made a move, they're at least now willing to have a conversation."As the wealthiest in the banking industry have grabbed headlines, government funding, and sometimes the wrath of taxpayers in recent months, small banks in Mercer County have been challenged by plummeting interest rates and slimmer incomes.Yet deposits also surged at some area institutions in 2008, perhaps as part of what Bank of Princeton president Martin P. Melilli called a "flight of safety" from riskier investments elsewhere.