Competitive knack.

TCB's New CEO Doesn't Like Losing

The new chief executive officer of Twin City Bank promises to leave his mark on the North little Rock bank, registered in terms of bottomline growth.

However, the moves Larry Glib makes to boost performance won't be flashy.

"I'll be the first to tell you I'm a competitive person," Gilb says. "I play solitaire in the morning after I read my paper, and I don't ever like losing at solitaire."

Mercantile Bancorporation Inc. of St. Louis brought Gilb to town to succeed Terry Renaud, the bank's longtime CEO who resigned earlier than expected. Renaud, who turned Twin City into a banking empire for the Frank Lyon family, retired shortly after Mercantile bought the bank as part of $172 million deal in May.

"I don't believe in real complex business plans and a whole lot of razzle-dazzle," says Gilb, who came to Arkansas by way of Joplin, Mo., where he managed Mercantile's $324 million-asset bank and honed it into a keen performer. "The people [at Twin City Bank] are very much in sync with the type of philosophy I bring to the table."

Gilb says he will keep a sharp eye for efficiencies in bank operations. However, he doesn't foresee much change regarding staffing or leadership positions at the bank.

"I really can't tell you, but those will be internal issues decided by the management team here rather than higher up in Mercantile," he says. "To the degree we can streamline things, it is prudent to do that."

Only one top executive at Twin City Bank other than Renaud has exited in the wake of the buyout. Susan Sisk, a senior vice president of commercial lending, moved to Pulaski Bank & Trust Co.

"That had nothing to do with Mercantile," Glib says. "From what I understand, she is a talented lady. She didn't go away from something. She went to something.

"I see Twin City Bank operating with the same cadre of people it has for the past five years. My job is to jockey people around to get them working in their strengths."

Succeeding a longtime CEO like Renaud, who's strongly identified with a bank, is nothing new to Gilb. In Joplin, he was tapped to replace Preston Pate, who retired after a long career there.

Gilb's 31-year banking career has taken him east to Wall Street and the Big Apple, a brief visit west to Beverly Hills and back to his home state of Minnesota. Seven years ago, his professional trek took him on a southward migration to Iowa and southwest Missouri before arriving in Arkansas this summer.

The Joplin bank was originally called First National Bank, known locally as "The Friendly First." It was part of a five-bank holding company bought 10 years ago by Mercantile.

Part of his legacy in Joplin was centralizing operations and bureaucracy. Improving internal communications to develop additional business from existing customers is a big reason behind the enhanced performance.

"Internal bank structures shouldn't get in the way of developing those relationships," Gilb says. "More time spent in meetings is an internal focus rather than on customers and an external focus.

"I'm all for cutting out meetings and the intendant paperwork that goes with it. Maybe we can save a tree."

Observers in Joplin say Gilb had no problem shuffling the personnel deck after he took over. Changes in the form of a shifting cast of loan officers sometimes prompted customers to move their business elsewhere.

Gilb's attention to business lowered his profile in Joplin civic circles once he had settled into the bank. He served as chairman of the local hospital board and worked on economic development issues.

"I really enjoy people, but I am not a social person as I would define it," Glib says. "l will make some appearances on the cocktail circuit because that goes with the territory. I'd rather have one-on-one meetings for dinner than go to events attended by thousands. That's a personal orientation."

Under his direction, the Joplin bank's efficiency and bottom line performance improved.

"If you look at the numbers, it appears that he did the job the folks at headquarters wanted," says a former Joplin competitor.

During Gilb's five-year stint as head of the Joplin bank, the average return on assets improved from 1.28 percent to 1.75 percent. The industry benchmark for average performance is 1 percent.

Twin City Bank's year-end 1994 ROA of 1.03 percent positioned it No. 9 among 12 Pulaski County banks. Its 1.07 percent ROA in the first quarter of 1995 placed it at No. 6.

Effective Oct. 1, all of the former TCBankshare banks will be renamed Mercantile. The lone exception will be [TABULAR DATA OMITTED] Twin City Bank, although it also will adopt a Mercantile moniker.

"A date hasn't been set yet, but we will be addressing that in the near future," Gilb says. "My own personal preference is to get on with it and get it behind us so we can get on with the business of banking."

The May 1 purchase of Twin City Bank included five banks sprinkled across the northern third of Arkansas in Van Buren, Morrilton, Flippin, Heber Springs and Batesville.

These banks will continue to operate as separate entities, Gilb says, and there will be no internal merger of Mercantile's contiguous banking operations in Pulaski, Faulkner, Conway, Cleburne and Independence counties to build a regional bank a la Union Planters Bank of Northeast Arkansas.

Mercantile does intend to use the TCBankshares buy as a springboard for future acquisitions in other parts of the state.

"There is no conscious effort to exclude any area," Glib says. "Mercantile's interests are clearly in the state as a whole. Our interest is to increase our presence throughout the state."

Mercantile is buying Security Bank of Conway, a $98 million asset thrift. The 322,000-share stock swap is valued at $14.4 million and expected to close by February.

Mercantile intends to merge Security Bank into its existing Arkansas operations. The move will broaden Twin City's base in Faulkner County and deepen its sister bank's market penetration in neighboring Conway County.

Security Bank's Conway headquarters and branch will be folded into Twin City Bank's operations there. Security Bank's Morrilton branch will be joined with Mercantile's First National Bank of Conway County.

Other Mercantile deals in the works are: Hawkeye Bancorporation of Des Moines, Iowa, total assets of $2 billion, in a $351 million buy; First Sterling Bancorp. of Sterling, Ill., total assets of $167 million, in a 521,000-share agreement; and Metro Savings Bank in Wood River, Ill., total assets of $84 million, for 199,000 shares.

At the same time Mercantile closed on TCBankshares, it acquired Central Mortgage Bancshares Inc. of Kansas City, Mo., a four-bank holding company with total assets of $629 million, for 2.6 million shares.

Plains Spirit Financial Corp. of Davenport, Iowa, a $428 million-asset holding company, joined Mercantile in July for a $64 million stock-cash combination deal.

In August, Mercantile expanded its Missouri holdings with two deals, swapping 661,000 shares of stock for AmeriFirst Bancorporation of Sikeston, a $164 million-asset concern, and 675,000 shares for Southwest Bancshares Inc. of Bolivar, a $172 million-asset operation.

Despite its appetite for acquisitions, Mercantile has found itself on the flip side of the merger mania sweeping the nation. The holding company has emerged as potential grist for the takeover mill that keeps rolling out more bank consolidations.

Mercantile stock has jumped from $32.50 per share in January to $44.88 on Sept. 20, powered by aggressive growth and takeover talk. All of it makes for interesting conversation, Glib says, but has no bearing on business as usual.

"You play the cards as you're dealt," he says. "The best thing we can do for ourselves is keep our focus on the customer and build our team approach."

RELATED ARTICLE: The Gilb Resume

LARRY L. GILB, 52. Native of Redwood Falls, Minn.

July 21: Named president and CEO of Twin City Bank of North Little Rock.

1991-95: Chairman, president and CEO of Mercantile Bank of Joplin, Mo.

1988-91: President and CEO of Banks of Iowa Inc. in Des Moines.

1971-88: First Bank System inc. of Minneapolis. Left as senior vice president based in Duluth overseeing all of First Bank's northern Minnesota banks.

1970-71: Vice president of commercial lending based in Beverly Hilts for Union Bank of California in Los Angeles.

1964-70: Irving Trust Co. of New York City. Rose to assistant vice president.

1964: Graduated from the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis with a bachelor's degree in political science and a minor in philosophy.