WebFinancial Corp., the parent of WebBank, did a 180 in the second quarter.
The New York holding company reported earnings of 10 cents a share for the three months that ended June 30, versus a loss of 11 cents a share in the year-earlier period. Operating expenses were $1 million, against $858,000. The company declined to give further second-quarter performance figures.
Operating expenses rose be-cause of increased staffing, marketing, and new initiatives at $30 million-asset WebBank, an Internet-only bank in Salt Lake City, WebFinancial said. WebBank, which is chartered in Utah as an industrial loan company, was purchased in August 1998 from H&R Block. WebBank's strategy is to strike partnerships with companies that want to offer online banking, said its chairman, Mitchell F. Stanley.
"We have a business-to-business banking model," he said. "While most Internet banks today are trying to replicate a traditional business model by getting rid of branches and gaining deposits, we are just using our Web site for informational and marketing purposes."
WebBank does not offer products and services directly to consumers, and Mr. Stanley said he doubts it ever will.
"We find it more cost-effective to keep our structure small and to offer products through intermediaries," he said.
In May, WebBank hired Kenneth Petersen, formerly head of Ford Motor Co.'s federal savings bank project, as president and chief executive officer. In June it entered a joint venture with Bombardier Capital Inc. of Jacksonville, Fla., the financial services arm of Montreal's Bombardier Inc., a transportation equipment maker.
WebBank issues credit cards on behalf of Bombardier for the company's retailers of power sports equipment. It has a similar card-issuing partnership with Aceiva Technologies (formerly InPurchase Inc.) of Mountain View, Calif., and is in talks with seven other prospective partners.
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