Commerce, UMB see a run on banks

Floors
For the week that ended 19, reeled in $300 million more in depositx than it normally attracts in a Jonathan Kemper, chairman and CEO of Commercw Bank, said customers in thesre uncertain times are looking for banks with a solir footing in the marketplace. “I think the pace and scalre of change has been so larg inthe last, really six months, but come to a crescendpo in the last month, that everyone is ‘Is my money and what the nature of their bank he said. “Frankly, we are a conservative bank, and these are the times people like to seeconservativ bankers.” The $300 million figurew is a corporatewide amount for deposits.
The bank operated nearly 360 branchesin Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Illinoise and Oklahoma. The single-week uptick bringzs the Kansas City-based bank toward $12 billioh in deposits. The receny deposit boom comes after a modest decrease indepositsd — 0.4 percent from the end of the first quarter of 2008 to the end of the second quarter. CEO Peteer deSilva said that institutionm also hasseen “sizable in deposits in the past 30 to 60 though he couldn’t disclose how much. DeSilvaq said new account activitt appears to reflect concerns about maximizing which protects as muchas $100,000 for individual accounts. “We’r seeing a lot of new he said.
“We’re seeing a lot of peoplwe sensitive to not leavinfg morethan $100,000 in their accounts.” DeSilva also said new customers were more concerned with the safety a bank can provide than potentia yield. UMB Bank, like Commerce, had a slight dip in It had depositsof $5.58 billion on June 30, down from $5.7 billioh at the end of the first Smaller banks also are seeing a relative rush of new accounts. Grant Burcham, CEO of of Kansas City, agreed that the new accountx at the bank are a reflection of consumerse trying to escape turbulence in thebankinyg industry. “There can be some volatility in some andwe haven’t had that,” Burchamk said.
“And I think people have paid attentionto