HOUSTON, Jan. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Southwest Bank of Texas National Association announced today that it will officially become Amegy Bank National Association and that the stock symbol of its parent, Southwest Bancorporation of Texas, Inc., will be changed to ABNK. The names of the Bank's subsidiaries will also be changed to align with the new name. The changes will be effective on March 7, 2005. It is expected that the name of the parent will be changed to Amegy Bancorporation, Inc. in May 2005, following approval of the shareholders of the company.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050125/DATU059LOGO http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030514/SWBTLOGO )
"Thinking strategically and looking at all aspects of our future growth, one issue that stood out was our name. There are more than two dozen financial institutions in Texas that have 'Southwest' as part of their name. This limits us in our ability to grow with this name, particularly outside of the ten-county Houston region," said Paul Murphy, CEO.
"Additionally, it is increasingly confusing to our customers, as well as inefficient and expensive for us, to operate under multiple names -- Mitchell Mortgage, SWBT Securities, Lone Star Bank, and Southwest Bank of Texas. The timing of the operational merger with Klein Bank also gives us an excellent opportunity to bring all of our businesses under one banner. In the long term, we will be more efficient and certainly more cost effective," he explained. "With Amegy, we have the opportunity to build a unique and sustainable brand."
The Company plans an extensive and far-reaching advertising and communications program to ensure that Amegy Bank becomes well-known in the Bank's markets. "We will be on the offensive with a major marketing and advertising campaign and the transition will be 'high touch' as all employees make many contacts with both our current customers and our prospects," said Scott McLean, President. "While conscious of costs, we do believe in the old adage, 'it pays to advertise' and believe our visibility will significantly enhance business development opportunities." The entire budget for the name change will be approximately $6 million, including all advertising and communications, signage and system changes.
"Amegy is a coined word that reflects the 'energy' of the people of 'America'. We're calling ourselves 'The A Bank' for short because we want to demonstrate to customers and prospects that we have the ability and agility to earn an 'A' from them every day," explained McLean.
He continued: "We have developed high energy radio and television commercials that will transition the name to Amegy Bank in the first phase and that will focus on specific products and services in the second phase. Tomorrow's Houston Chronicle will be delivered to the door steps of 500,000 households throughout the region in a polybag wrapper announcing our new name. In the coming months, a series of billboards will introduce Amegy, our signage will be replaced and our website will change. Additionally, we have significantly streamlined the Bank's brochures to be more customer friendly and cost effective to produce."
"We believe the advertising and outreach we do through this process will result in significant incremental business," said Murphy. "In the long run, we expect the market to have a clearer picture of who we are and what we stand for, which will lead to more business opportunities."
Customers will be able to use their same checks, ATM cards and personal identification numbers. Automatic billpay will continue with no interruptions. ATM and debit cards will be reissued as they expire.
Murphy concluded: "Our employees and our board are very enthusiastic. We have a strong signal to send to our customers, prospects, and shareholders-the team at 'The A Bank' wants to earn an 'A' from them every day. We plan to help our customers grow and we want to grow. Like any self-respecting Texan, I don't want to be fenced in."
Key Information: * March 7 -- Name of Bank to be changed to Amegy Bank N.A. -- Stock symbol of parent company to be changed to ABNK. -- Klein operational merger to be completed. -- Customer contact points to be changed, including signage, in- branch materials, most systems. * May -- Corporate name to be changed to Amegy Bancorporation, Inc., subject to shareholder approval.
Please visit our Web site http://www.amegybank.com/ (or http://www.swbanktx.com/ ) to see additional information.
Southwest Bancorporation of Texas, Inc., the parent company of Southwest Bank of Texas N.A., is the largest independent bank holding company headquartered in Houston, Texas. The Bank will become Amegy Bank N.A. on March 7, 2005. The NASDAQ stock symbol will be changed to ABNK. The Bank focuses on commercial lending, treasury management, and investment services for businesses, private financial management, and trust services for families and individuals, and retail and mortgage banking services. The Company has $7.51 billion in assets, deposits of $5.6 billion and more than 75 full- service banking centers located throughout the Houston and Dallas metropolitan areas.
Certain of the matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements for the purposes of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as such may involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Southwest Bancorporation of Texas, Inc. (the "Company") to be materially different from future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The words "expect," "anticipated," "intend," "plan," "believe," "seek," "estimate," and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. The Company's actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors, including, without limitation (a) the effects of future economic conditions on the Company and its customers; (b) the costs and effects of litigation and of unexpected or adverse outcomes in such litigation; (c) governmental monetary and fiscal policies, as well as legislative and regulatory changes; (d) the effect of changes in accounting policies and practices, as may be adopted by the regulatory agencies, as well as the Financial Accounting Standards Board and other accounting standard setters; (e) the risks of changes in interest rates on the level and composition of deposits, loan demand, and the values of loan collateral, securities and interest rate protection agreements, as well as interest rate risks; (f) the effects of competition from other commercial banks, thrifts, mortgage banking firms, consumer finance companies, credit unions, securities brokerage firms, insurance companies, money market and other mutual funds and other financial institutions operating in the Company's market area and elsewhere, including institutions operating locally, regionally, nationally and internationally, together with such competitors offering banking products and services by mail, telephone, computer and the internet; (g) technological changes; (h) acquisition and integration of acquired businesses; (i) the failure of assumptions underlying the establishment of reserves for loan losses and estimations of values of collateral in various financial assets and liabilities; (j) acts of war or terrorism. All written or oral forward- looking statements attributable to the Company are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements.
Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050125/DATU059LOGOhttp://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030514/SWBTLOGOAP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com Southwest Bancorporation of Texas, Inc.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050125/DATU059LOGO http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030514/SWBTLOGO )
"Thinking strategically and looking at all aspects of our future growth, one issue that stood out was our name. There are more than two dozen financial institutions in Texas that have 'Southwest' as part of their name. This limits us in our ability to grow with this name, particularly outside of the ten-county Houston region," said Paul Murphy, CEO.
"Additionally, it is increasingly confusing to our customers, as well as inefficient and expensive for us, to operate under multiple names -- Mitchell Mortgage, SWBT Securities, Lone Star Bank, and Southwest Bank of Texas. The timing of the operational merger with Klein Bank also gives us an excellent opportunity to bring all of our businesses under one banner. In the long term, we will be more efficient and certainly more cost effective," he explained. "With Amegy, we have the opportunity to build a unique and sustainable brand."
The Company plans an extensive and far-reaching advertising and communications program to ensure that Amegy Bank becomes well-known in the Bank's markets. "We will be on the offensive with a major marketing and advertising campaign and the transition will be 'high touch' as all employees make many contacts with both our current customers and our prospects," said Scott McLean, President. "While conscious of costs, we do believe in the old adage, 'it pays to advertise' and believe our visibility will significantly enhance business development opportunities." The entire budget for the name change will be approximately $6 million, including all advertising and communications, signage and system changes.
"Amegy is a coined word that reflects the 'energy' of the people of 'America'. We're calling ourselves 'The A Bank' for short because we want to demonstrate to customers and prospects that we have the ability and agility to earn an 'A' from them every day," explained McLean.
He continued: "We have developed high energy radio and television commercials that will transition the name to Amegy Bank in the first phase and that will focus on specific products and services in the second phase. Tomorrow's Houston Chronicle will be delivered to the door steps of 500,000 households throughout the region in a polybag wrapper announcing our new name. In the coming months, a series of billboards will introduce Amegy, our signage will be replaced and our website will change. Additionally, we have significantly streamlined the Bank's brochures to be more customer friendly and cost effective to produce."
"We believe the advertising and outreach we do through this process will result in significant incremental business," said Murphy. "In the long run, we expect the market to have a clearer picture of who we are and what we stand for, which will lead to more business opportunities."
Customers will be able to use their same checks, ATM cards and personal identification numbers. Automatic billpay will continue with no interruptions. ATM and debit cards will be reissued as they expire.
Murphy concluded: "Our employees and our board are very enthusiastic. We have a strong signal to send to our customers, prospects, and shareholders-the team at 'The A Bank' wants to earn an 'A' from them every day. We plan to help our customers grow and we want to grow. Like any self-respecting Texan, I don't want to be fenced in."
Key Information: * March 7 -- Name of Bank to be changed to Amegy Bank N.A. -- Stock symbol of parent company to be changed to ABNK. -- Klein operational merger to be completed. -- Customer contact points to be changed, including signage, in- branch materials, most systems. * May -- Corporate name to be changed to Amegy Bancorporation, Inc., subject to shareholder approval.
Please visit our Web site http://www.amegybank.com/ (or http://www.swbanktx.com/ ) to see additional information.
Southwest Bancorporation of Texas, Inc., the parent company of Southwest Bank of Texas N.A., is the largest independent bank holding company headquartered in Houston, Texas. The Bank will become Amegy Bank N.A. on March 7, 2005. The NASDAQ stock symbol will be changed to ABNK. The Bank focuses on commercial lending, treasury management, and investment services for businesses, private financial management, and trust services for families and individuals, and retail and mortgage banking services. The Company has $7.51 billion in assets, deposits of $5.6 billion and more than 75 full- service banking centers located throughout the Houston and Dallas metropolitan areas.
Certain of the matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements for the purposes of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as such may involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Southwest Bancorporation of Texas, Inc. (the "Company") to be materially different from future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The words "expect," "anticipated," "intend," "plan," "believe," "seek," "estimate," and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. The Company's actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors, including, without limitation (a) the effects of future economic conditions on the Company and its customers; (b) the costs and effects of litigation and of unexpected or adverse outcomes in such litigation; (c) governmental monetary and fiscal policies, as well as legislative and regulatory changes; (d) the effect of changes in accounting policies and practices, as may be adopted by the regulatory agencies, as well as the Financial Accounting Standards Board and other accounting standard setters; (e) the risks of changes in interest rates on the level and composition of deposits, loan demand, and the values of loan collateral, securities and interest rate protection agreements, as well as interest rate risks; (f) the effects of competition from other commercial banks, thrifts, mortgage banking firms, consumer finance companies, credit unions, securities brokerage firms, insurance companies, money market and other mutual funds and other financial institutions operating in the Company's market area and elsewhere, including institutions operating locally, regionally, nationally and internationally, together with such competitors offering banking products and services by mail, telephone, computer and the internet; (g) technological changes; (h) acquisition and integration of acquired businesses; (i) the failure of assumptions underlying the establishment of reserves for loan losses and estimations of values of collateral in various financial assets and liabilities; (j) acts of war or terrorism. All written or oral forward- looking statements attributable to the Company are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements.
Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050125/DATU059LOGOhttp://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030514/SWBTLOGOAP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com Southwest Bancorporation of Texas, Inc.
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