Bankers jump ship to upstart Valley Green

A group of eight bankers and support staff from National Penn Bank, one the region's largest banks, yesterday jumped over to Valley Green Bank, a four-year-old institution still in its fast-growth stage.

"Valley Green is in a position to take advantage of the disruption in the market right now," said Bob Marino, a 14-year veteran of National Penn who led the defection to Valley Green, which he described as having an "entrepreneurial type of environment."

The unusual move of lenders from a relatively large institution to a small one comes as banks face strong criticism from politicians who say banks are holding back the nation's economic recovery by refusing to lend, even to would-be borrowers with good credit.

"I don't think it's any secret, large banks and medium-sized banks are struggling right now," said Marino, who will head a new division and is joining Valley Green's board of directors. The group from National Penn invested in Valley Green, but the amount was not disclosed.

National Penn is in better shape than many of its peers, based on the condition of its loan portfolio. But National Penn has had significant losses from investments, and its loans fell slightly to $5.55 billion on Sept. 30, 2009, from $5.95 billion on Sept. 30, 2008. Overall lending by banks based here was flat.

Valley Green is tiny by comparison, but its loan portfolio grew 31 percent over the same period, to $79.5 million from $60.6 million.

Jay Goldstein, president and chief executive of Valley Green, said his bank has seen the number of inquiries about loans from potential customers double in the last year.

"I think that there are a fair number of companies in the Delaware Valley that are profitable and have been able to maintain their cash flow that are being turned away from their existing institutions because of reasons having nothing to do with the quality of their credit," Goldstein said.

"It's been advantageous for us," he said.

Marino was president of Boyertown-based National Penn's southern region, which covered Philadelphia, Montgomery, Delaware, and Chester Counties.

That area has 25 National Penn branches with $1.4 billion in deposits and 200 employees. Overall National Penn has $9.6 billion in assets and 139 branches.

Valley Green, based in the Mount Airy section of Philadelphia, has just two branches and $96.8 million in assets as of September.