More than the name has changed at Baltimore’s Bradford Bank, which was Bradford Savings and Loan until last month.
Under chief executive officer Dallas Arthur, who came out of retirement to join Bradford just over a year ago, the $300 million-asset institution recently hired two commercial loan officers, the first in its 99-year history. Mr. Arthur aims to build the commercial loan portfolio, $1.2 million when he came on, to more than $30 million in the next 18 months.
Now Bradford is making its first acquisition ever. It announced last Tuesday that it had agreed to buy $70 million-asset Wyman Park Bancorp Inc. in neighboring Lutherville.
Mr. Arthur took the helm after Bradford’s CEO of 29 years, Gene D. Klausing, died. After Mr. Klausing’s death, Bradford’s board decided that what had been a traditional thrift needed to go in a new direction in a market increasingly dominated by large out-of-state banks. Hence the name change.
Mr. Arthur, 58, said his experience building a commercial bank helped him get the job interview at Bradford. He accepted the job after five months of retirement, he said, because “my wife told me I could not be sitting around the house seven days a week anymore.”
He spent 36 years at Carrollton Bank in Baltimore, starting out as a teller and working his way up to CEO. He helped double Carrollton’s branch network to 12 offices and was instrumental in getting its automated teller machines in Wal-Mart stores throughout the Baltimore area.
Mr. Arthur also wants better deposit growth at Bradford, whose deposits rose by only $4 million, to $246 million, from 1992 to 2001.
His other plans for the next year and a half include opening two branches and adding $100 million of assets, excluding those added by acquisition. Bradford currently has four branches and would have six with the completion of the $12 million Wyman Park deal, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter.
“I am very excited about all this growth,” Mr. Arthur said. “Bradford has a lot of people with talents that have not been used, and I want to make use of these talents.”
