VALPARAISO | Kathryn Welter said federal regulators have given preliminary approval to organize Welter National Bank, the new bank planned by the Welter family of longtime local bankers.
"We've received a charter number to proceed with opening the bank," Kathryn Welter said.
Final approval won't be granted until requirements of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency are met, and an opening could be more than a year away, Welter said.
"We're really just watching the interest rates and trying to sense the best time to open the bank in this climate," Welter said. "We're hoping to open within 18 months."
Kathryn, who is nearing graduation from the University of Chicago law school, and her father Charles Welter applied in June to organize Welter National Bank.
Plans are to headquarter it at a site in the Eastporte Centre commercial and industrial complex on the city's east side.
"We'll be building from the ground up," Kathryn Welter said. "It's going to be a very green space, with a natural feel."
Kathryn, the proposed new bank's vice-president, grew up in the business.
Her father succeeded her grandfather, William Welter, as president and chief executive officer of the former First National Bank of Valparaiso.
"I spent my whole life at the bank. It was like a playground to me. I spent most of my Saturdays there," Kathryn Welter said.
Charles Welter's brother, Wayne Welter, replaced him as First National Bank president and CEO in late 2006, and by mid-2007 the century-old institution had been acquired by current owner, South Bend-based 1st Source Bank.
Kathryn, 26, said turmoil in the nation's banking industry hasn't dampened enthusiasm for a new bank.
"I think it's a wonderful time to open a bank," she said. "For one thing, there's a tremendous need for it.
"There are many, many people who wish to borrow money for good reasons, and a lot of banks right now are too wary to loan money."
A new bank "can start out with a clean slate," she said, with no bad loans as baggage.
Few new banks have opened in Indiana in recent years.
Only about one new bank per year opened over the past decade, according to Paul Freeman, executive vice president of the Indiana Bankers Association.
