Three-Year Avg. Growth: 61%
Headquarters: Two Harbour Place, Portsmouth
Product/Service: Banking
Chairman/President/CEO: Daniel R. Morrison
Incorporated: 2007
Total Number of Employees: 45
Website: www.optimabank.com
Watching one small local bank after another acquired by larger national banks, Daniel and Pamela Morrison decided it was time to take their combined 52 years of banking experience and start one of their own.
It shouldn't have worked: The bank opened when the recession hit hardest and the behemoths in their industry were failing and getting bailed out. But it did-and it has been the fastest growing bank in the state for the past four years, says Daniel Morrison, chairman, president and CEO. Of the 19 bank branches in Portsmouth, Optima is ranked the fourth largest by the FDIC.
Local was our advantage, he says. Optima not only thrived during the recession, it fed the local economy during a critical time, investing more than $200 million in business and personal loans. We were making credit available and loaning to people who needed it, Morrison says.
Optima opened in 2008 with eight employees at a single branch. It has since added two branches in North Hampton and Stratham and grown its staff to 45. Morrison expects to hire 15 more people within the next year.
Morrison expects Optima Bank & Trust will open another branch in the next few years, and hit the100 employee mark within the next five years.
We're not limiting ourselves to the Seacoast or New Hampshire, Morrison says. We're looking at Manchester and other markets around the state.
The bank has $226 million in assets and has been growing those assets by $50 million annually. In the next five years, we'll be double the size, Morrison predicts.
Current Issue - May 2024