Anchor Bank: The Community Bank of Choice for Local Small Business

anchor bank lacey
Projects will occur throughout Thurston County on Septmeber 30 and October 1.
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By Lisa Herrick

anchor bank lacey
Gary Koch, Executive Vice President Chief Lending Officer for Anchor Bank, builds relationships with local business owners.

Community banks are akin to small business. Essentially Anchor Bank, a local community bank, is a small business itself. Anchor Bank innately understands the challenges of launching, growing and diversifying a small business and has the money to lend professional businesses to help them succeed. Anchor Bank has been vital in building a more sustainable local economy by putting the deposits back into our community through loans to residents and small businesses.

“As local community business bankers, we have the advantage of personally getting to know our clients and their local business needs,” Gary Koch, Executive Vice President, Chief Lending Officer at Anchor Bank explains. “We meet with them face to face to build a relationship and identify their banking needs. We can offer valuable insight and advice to our clients’ small business requirements because we expertly understand the local community, business industry and community banking. We make community lending decisions in and for the community.”

Originally from the Pacific Northwest, Gary grew up in Salem, Oregon and graduated from his hometown college at Willamette University. He was immediately recruited by Wells Fargo in Alaska where he gained the foundation of his banking expertise. He dedicated 26 years of his banking career in Alaska ultimately becoming in charge of 19 branches of a retail enterprise before moving back to the contiguous states.

Gary shares, “Having worked for the big box banks, I have the advantage of knowing the difference between that type of lending and Anchor Bank’s approach as a community based savings bank. We make local credit decisions by local people. We are involved in the community as residents, families, volunteers and banking professionals. We have a better understanding of what is going on in the local marketplace. We take a consultative approach with our clients. We sit down together and determine what they are trying to accomplish in their business. We identify their needs and how we can help them solve those needs.”

anchor bank lacey
The Anchor Bank team is out in the community, helping non-profits.

Anchor Bank has a talented and highly experienced business banking team focused on providing financial options to new clients as well as assisting existing clients with their business expansion needs. In reflection of recent ways in which Anchor Bank has helped clients, Gary describes, “We were able to help one of our clients, a local dentist, expand his practice to add two rental properties on Martin Way. Anchor Bank provided term financing for the practice as well as the construction financing for the two adjacent rental properties. Also recently, we provided refinancing for a strip mall on Martin Way as well. Anchor Bank has financed numerous multi-family residential construction projects throughout Thurston County recently. These are just some of the types of projects we can help out with.”

Anchor Bank has been serving local communities in Grays Harbor, Thurston, Mason, Pierce and Lewis counties for more than a century. Started in 1907 as a traditional savings and loan bank, Anchor Bank originally focused on savings accounts and mortgages for its borrowers back when savings and loan institutions were prohibited from offering checking accounts. As banking regulations have changed and Anchor Bank restructured as a publicly owned entity with its customers as shareholders, it currently operates eleven branches in five counties offering a variety of financial institution products and services.

anchor bank lacey
Habitat for Humanity is one of the local non-profits that is supported by Anchor Bank.

As a community bank, Anchor Bank strongly believes in making the community in which they serve a better place to live. As an organization as well as individually, Anchor Bank staff are involved in a variety of charitable organizations including Thurston County Chamber of Commerce and Lacey South Sound Chamber of Commerce, Math for Life and South Puget Sound Habitat for Humanity.

To learn more about Anchor Bank’s business banking services or to reach Gary Koch, click here.

Anchor Bank-Lacey Branch

601 Woodland Square Loop SE

Lacey, WA 98503

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