On November 30, Charles G. Cooper, commissioner of the Texas Department of Banking, announced that The First Liberty National Bank, headquartered in Liberty, has completed its conversion to a Texas state-chartered bank from a national banking association. The bank began operating as First Liberty Bank under its new charter on November 30.
A wholly owned subsidiary of First Liberty National Bancshares Inc., the bank was originally chartered in 1913 at 1900 Sam Houston Ave. in Liberty where it remains today. In addition to its main office in Liberty, the bank also has branch locations in Baytown, Beaumont, Dayton, Huffman and Liberty. First Liberty Bank will enter the state banking system with approximately $430 million in assets.
The bank’s executive team is led by Charles L. McGuire, chairman; Kelly D. Stretcher, president and CEO; and Jerry Ursprung, executive vice president and chief financial officer.
“As you can imagine, the decision to change a 97-year regulatory relationship was not easy,” McGuire told The Liberty Vindicator. Although the bank was established in 1913 as Liberty State Bank, the bank joined the national banking system in 1925 under the supervision of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
“As we grow and continue to open locations, it has become more advantageous to have a closer relationship with the regulatory body that supervises our banking activity,” McGuire told The Vindicator. “Converting to a state charter will allow us to keep abreast of issues facing Texas banks as opposed to those mandated by Washington that focus on what is best for the big banks to the detriment of the community banks.”
“I welcome First Liberty Bank to the Texas state banking system and applaud its nearly 110 years of providing safe and sound financial services to the citizens of Chambers, Harris, Jefferson and Liberty counties,” Cooper says.
