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Ask TASI® Bank: Movin’ on Up

After 40 years of occupying a street-level office, TASI® Bank has moved its operations to the 11th and 12th floors in the same building at 400 Montgomery Street in the heart of San Francisco’s Financial District. We took a moment to talk with two of the architects of the move, Branch Manager Shirley Quitugua and Regional Vice President for Business Development and Relationship Banking Manager Hitesh Bajaria.

Our first question was why, after nearly four decades, did TASI ® Bank officials decide to “move.”

“It was a combination of the need for more space, strong business growth, and the increasing reliance on online technology,” said Quitugua, who joined the Bank in 1981.

The numbers tell the story. TASI® Bank has grown from assets of approximately $50 million to more than $450 million in the past decade. Said Quitugua, “We know that our customer base, entirely based of business and commercial clients, seldom visited the branch. Additionally, the Bank has begun providing more online access, offering more online services.”

While the ground floor location was “spacious” in one sense, it did not provide nearly enough space for back-office operations and loan support staff and executives. Moving upstairs allowed TASI® Bank to increase space from about 6,200 square feet to 9,500 square feet. That provides enough space for the current size and provides growth opportunities.

Hitesh Bajaria, Regional Vice President for Business Development and Relationship Banking Manager, explains “We have customers in the nine Bay Area counties, and they seldom, if ever, visited the branch. And while our people are available to meet with them on their premises, the vast majority are relying on our online services and online meetings.”

“As financial services are increasingly provided online,” he said, “our customers are migrating rapidly to the online services we provide. Having a San Francisco-based headquarters is important but having a ‘street’ presence is not.”

While it may be a fresh look for TASI® Bank, a division of the Bank of Guam®, the breadth of services available to customers still provides the variety of services to business and commercial customers that have made it a leader among its peers. They include:

· Commercial real estate loans

· Commercial Industrial loans

· Government guaranteed loans (SBA)

· Business checking, money market, and savings

· Nonprofit checking accounts

TASI® Bank is also a Minority Depository Institution and an SBA-preferred lender.