A Texas banking entrepreneur makes deal to start third act

• Key insight: Dean Bass, who built and sold two Houston community banks over a 50-year banking career, is planning to take the reins of a third. 
  
• Supporting data: Bass built Spirit of Texas Bank into a $3.3 billion-asset regional institution before selling it to Simmons First National in 2022.
  
• Expert quote: A company chaired by Bass "has the capital resources and relationships to expand the reach of Lone Star across the Houston area and into new and larger business opportunities." — Lone Star CEO Dennis Harrington
  

UPDATE: This article includes quotes from an interview with Dean Bass, who is leading the group that has agreed to acquire Lone Star Bank.

Longtime Texas banker Dean Bass is leading a group that plans to acquire the $191 million-asset Lone Star Bank in Houston.

Bass, who's known for starting, building and selling community banks, said in a press release Monday that he has "admired the growth and reputation of the Lone Star franchise over the past many years."  The transaction's terms were not disclosed.

"We … are excited about the potential of this new partnership to become a leading community bank for the Houston community,"  Bass said.

The Houston market is home to 7.8 million people and $348 billion of bank deposits, and it could easily support a significantly sized community bank, but Bass told American Banker that his ambitions are bigger.

He envisions an operation with a presence in all of Texas' major metropolitan areas, as well as the western side of the state. Bass is also eyeing Oklahoma. 

The goal is to build a "formidable powerhouse," Bass said Wednesday. "That's what we'll be working on. 

Founded in 2006, the privately held Lone Star operates two branches in Houston, one in Sealy, Texas, and one in Columbus, Texas. In 2025, Lone Star reported full-year net income totaling $1.9 million, according to data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

In January 2023, Lone Star agreed to sell itself to First Guaranty Bancshares in Hammond, Louisiana. But that all-stock deal, which called for First Guaranty to pay 1.5 times Lone Star's tangible book value, fell apart in July 2023 after the failure of three large regional banks triggered a sell-off of bank stocks.

Executives at Lone Star and the $4.1 billion-asset First Guaranty said in a joint statement at the time that they had "mutually concluded it was not prudent to continue to pursue the combination."

On Monday, Lone Star CEO Dennis Harrington said in the press release that the Bass-led Journey Financial Group "has the capital resources and relationships to expand the reach of Lone Star across the Houston area and into new and larger business opportunities."

Harrington, who joined Lone Star in 2011, has agreed to stay with the combined company as vice chairman and Houston president. 

Bass described the Lone Star team as an ideal core for the larger organization he intends to build. "They're stellar," he said. "They know the ins and outs of what it takes to run community banks."

Journey Financial expects to close the acquisition late in the second quarter or early in the third quarter. 

Houston's gross domestic product grew 10.6% between 2022 and 2024, second only to Seattle among major metro economies, according to the Greater Houston Partnership. That growth has prompted banks in Texas and around the country to target the region for expansion.

For example, the $17.7 billion-asset ServisFirst Bancshares in Birmingham, Alabama, announced plans for a Houston branch in December. Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services Group plans to open 15 branches in Houston as part of a multi-year de novo expansion effort.

Meanwhile, Columbus, Ohio-based Huntington Bancshares recently moved to bolster its position in Houston by acquiring the $53.5 billion-asset Cadence Bank, headquartered in Houston and Tupelo, Mississippi.

That level of flux creates opportunities for growth-minded community banks to pick up good customers and experienced bankers, according to Bass. 

"Any time there's a merger, there's the possibility of people feeling disenfranchised or just slighted a little bit," Bass said. 

Bass, who began his career as an examiner with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, founded Houston-based Royal Oaks Bank in 2001. In 2006, Royal Oaks was sold to Creve Coeur, Missouri-based First Banks for $38 million.

Two years later, a company started by Bass used its acquisition of First Bank of Snook in Snook, Texas, to launch Spirit of Texas Bank. Bass built Spirit of Texas from $39 million of assets into a $3.3 billion-asset institution before its $581 million sale to Simmons First National in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, in 2022.

Bass joined the Simmons First board after selling Spirit of Texas. He stepped down in 2024. 

Bass described the Simmons First organization as "first class." But he added that he couldn't escape the feeling he was a small cog in a much larger bank. "It's a small role you play, even as a director," he said. 

More importantly, perhaps, Bass said both he and his son Kevin, Journey Financial's president, were eager for another opportunity to build a community bank. 

"This is just two cowboys trying to make it happen again," Bass said.