Wealth-management specialist wants to deepen relationships with biz owners. The Trust Company, a San Antonio, Texas-based -- you guessed it -- trust company, has reversed the more common practice of entering commercial banking first and then using those connection to establisha wealth-management business. Having specialized in wealth management and trust services for a decade, the Trust Company has taken the plunge into commercial banking.

Logical progression

"We believe that the heavy lifting already has been done in our organization, and we'll continue to build on our strengths," the Trust Company's COO Danny Buck, told the San Antonio Express-News last week. "It's a logical progression into commercial banking."

The Trust Company hired Buck, who is managing the expansion into commercial banking, a few months ago. He had been San Antonio regional CEO for Houston-based Sterling Bank, which has a fairly big business-banking practice.

According to executives at the Trust Company, the move into commercial banking is meant -- in part at least -- to augment its wealth-management practice by deepening its overall service offering to its business-owning clientele.

The Trust Company is amending its articles of association to accept deposits, but it isn't going the way of the "typical" bank, says Buck. It will continue to work with clients one-on-one, frequently offsite.

"We have a defined niche, and we want to do the best job in that niche," Buck says.

The Trust Company will open its first commercial-banking office in Boerne, Texas, in October 2007, and another in San Antonio, by the end of 2008. "We're real excited about this," says Charles Wade, chairman and CEO of the Trust Company.

The Trust Company has 30 employees manages assets for 350 clients. It has a branch office in Corpus Christi, Texas. Its corporate parent TTC Holdings owns San Antonio-based Presidio Financial Services, a broker-dealer. -FWR

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