Independent Banker - May 2021 - 44

More than
$1 billion
By Katie Kuehner-Hebert
3 MINUTES WITH ...
Andrew Ryback, president
and CEO, Plumas Bank
and Plumas Bancorp
What makes Plumas Bank so
profitable? In a nutshell: diversification.
The Quincy, Calif.-based community
bank is diversified not only in the
geography of each branch and its
respective customer base, but also
in its loan variety and sources of fee
income, according to president and
CEO Andrew Ryback. " We're unique
among California community banks
in that 10% of our loan portfolio is in
agriculture, " he says. " We also have an
indirect auto lending portfolio, buying
paper from car dealerships around
northern California. "
Plumas Bank also differs from many
community banks in the region in
that it doesn't rely on commercial real
estate lending, Ryback says. Instead,
the bank is involved in Small Business
Administration (SBA) 7(a) lending.
This should be lucrative in 2021,
as the SBA is guaranteeing 90% of
each loan, up from the typical 75%.
Plus, it is waiving associated fees on
the loans to encourage small business
financing during the pandemic, and
the government is making at least the
first three loan payments.
In addition to gains on sales of the
guaranteed portion of SBA loans and
servicing fees on the portion it retains,
Plumas Bank garners interchange
revenue related to customer debit card
usage, as well as service charges on
retail and other business clients.
" All of this diversification provides
growing and sustainable income
streams, " Ryback says. " We want
to make sure that when one of our
sources of income is disrupted, such
as tourism in some markets due to
the pandemic or tariffs put on some
ag products, we have other sources of
income to generate profitability. "
#24
Plumas Bank
Quincy, Calif.
Assets: $1.2 billion
3-year average pre-tax ROA: 2.34%
plumasbank.com
3 FACTS ABOUT ...
Gateway First Bank
As many homeowners took
advantage of lower interest
rates and refinanced their
mortgages, Gateway First Bank
logged its best year of residential
mortgage production yet. The
community bank funded more than
$1 billion in residential mortgage
loans for six of the 12 months of
2020, including an all-time monthly
record of $1.1 billion in October.
Gateway First Bank funded more
than $11.3 billion in mortgage loans
overall, beating its previous record
year of $7.7 billion in 2019.
1
its 1,400 employees to remote work
within two weeks.
2
3
Gateway First Bank's
continued growth was
also made possible by the
opening of 17 new mortgage centers,
bringing its year-end number of
centers to 163. Another eight were
expected to open during the first
quarter of 2021. The bank is now in
42 states and Washington, D.C.
Staff at the Reno, Nev.,
office of Plumas Bank pose
for the community bank's
holiday card.
#2
Gateway First Bank
Cherokee, Okla.
Assets: $1.9 billion
3-year average pre-tax ROA: 6.02%
gatewayfirst.com
Despite the pandemic, the
bank was able to maintain
its pace by transitioning
42 Q ICBA Independent Banker Q May 2021
http://www.plumasbank.com http://www.gatewayfirst.com
Independent Banker - May 2021

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