International Bank of Commerce of Laredo, Tex., is planning major branch expansions in the Austin, Houston, and San Antonio areas.
The bank opened its 27th Houston-area branch Friday, and Jay Rogers, the president and chief executive for its Houston market, said it plans to have 40 to 45 in there within two years.
International Bank opened its 29th San Antonio-area branch last month, and it has said it plans to open five more in each the next three years.
In March it opened sixth Austin-area branch, in Cedar Park, and it plans to add three more this year and another one during the first quarter. It aims to have 15 to 20 in all there within six years, Robert "Bob" Barnes, its president and CEO for the market, said last week.
"Central Texas is a high-growth market," Mr. Barnes said. "One of the reasons we are here, as well as a number of other banks, is the projected growth for the region."
International Bank opened its first full-service Austin branch in November 2003, two years after its parent, International Bancshares Corp., acquired an Austin mortgage banking company, now named IBC First Equity.
The $10.5 billion-asset International Bancshares, which got its start in Laredo in 1966, is now the country's largest Hispanic-owned banking company, with 200 branches and 330 automated teller machines in 90 communities in Texas and Oklahoma.
