Main Street Bank Celebrates ‘Record’ Business in 2022
Main Street Bank President and CEO Rich Lucas talks to shareholders during their annual meeting Thursday.
WHEELING — Main Street Bank President and CEO Rich Lucas said he has been pleased that for 22 years, he has offered good news to shareholders at their annual meeting. Their meeting Thursday, where Lucas recapped Main Street’s 2022 performance, was what he considered another notch in that streak.
Lucas told shareholders Thursday afternoon at the Undo’s Event Center in Elm Grove that the bank posted record net earnings of $5.56 million in 2022, which represented $1.63 in earnings per share for investors.
That’s really good for a bank that, 22 years ago, started in the Ohio Valley with zero deposits and zero customers. Fast forward to 2022, where Main Street acquired 2,160 new accounts and 1,272 new customers and issued 1,083 new loans.
Lucas chalked that success up to the bank’s long-term planning.
“It’s the long term thinking, consistency, delivery, and understanding that we need to be there,” he said following the meeting. “And it is day to day, month to month that you have to work, you have to be there to deliver the product to the customer.”
photo by: Photo by Derek Redd
Nick Sparachane, chairman of the Main Street Bank Board of Directors, talks to shareholders at their annual meeting Thursday.
Lucas attributed those record net earnings, in part, to the market. A rising tide, he said, will lift all boats. He also gave credit the the dozens of Main Street Bank employees throughout the bank’s branches in Wheeling, Elm Grove, Moundsville, Wellsburg in West Virginia and in Toronto, Ohio.
“I think our employee dedication is wonderful,” he said. “I think we we have employees across the board who come to work and want to help. They want to see us all succeed. They have a piece of the game, whether it’s employment or stock or family or whatever.”
Those employees help maintain the relationship-based approach to banking that has been the trademark of Main Street Bank, Lucas said. While other banks move away from physical locations, Lucas said Main Street makes it a priority to maintain a personal touch with customers.
That doesn’t mean Main Street isn’t considering the future. In 2022, Lucas said the bank made strides in online banking and added access to Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay. It now provides customers with a debit card as soon as an account is opened and made contactless debit cards available.
The bank also made advances for business customers by offering ACH Direct Deposit Payroll and remote deposit scanners.
Main Street also builds relationships through its community involvement, according to Board of Directors Chairman Nick Sparachane. It has sponsored events from youth baseball to the Mountain East Conference basketball tournament. Sparachane told a story of his recent visit to Trinity Medical Center when he overheard a nurse discuss the support Main Street gave to a local football team.
“She said we were the only bank that jumped in to help them out,” he said. “And then somebody else said, ‘Yeah, that bank up in Toronto, they help everybody up there.’ And that’s been something that we’ve spearheaded for the last 22 years.”
As successful as 2022 was, Lucas is hopeful for an even more dynamic 2023. Main Street announced in February that it would merge with Wayne Community Savings Bank based in Wooster, Ohio. Main Street officials hope the merger will be complete later this year, which would expand the bank’s reach further into the Buckeye State.
“I think for the first quarter, we’re off to a great start,” Lucas said. “I think the main thing is that we will simply and 100% focus on our consistent delivery and on our products and not deviate from what’s gotten us to 2022.”
Main Street Bank President and CEO Rich Lucas talks to shareholders during their annual meeting Thursday.
Nick Sparachane, chairman of the Main Street Bank Board of Directors, talks to shareholders at their annual meeting Thursday.
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