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This is Chris Redgrave for Zions Bank Speaking on Business.
This year a major organization in our community is commemorating an important event: Zions Bank is celebrating 140 years of creating value for our communities.
Since 1873, Zions has helped families save for the future, financed start-ups that evolved into major corporations and supported local industries that have fueled our economy. Not to mention Zions has been named the top lender of U.S. Small Business Administration 7(a) loans in Utah for the past 19 consecutive years and in Idaho's Boise District for the past 11 consecutive years.
It all started in 1873 when Brigham Young called together a group of 12 leading citizens of the Salt Lake Valley to consider the organization of a savings bank they called Zion's Savings and Trust Company. On its first day of business, Zion's cashiers recorded deposits of over $5800.
You're probably familiar with names like Kennecott Copper, Union Pacific, Utah Power and Mountain Fuel. It's thanks to financial assistance from Zion's Savings and Trust Company that some of these firms received funds they needed to launch. The bank held steady during the financial crisis in 1932. It was in 1957 that Zions First National Bank, as we know it today, was formed. The institution had over $109 million in deposits.
In 1991, the Zions bankers traded balance sheets for paint brushes to launch the annual Paint-a-Thon community event. They've since mobilized over 28,000 volunteers to participate in sprucing up homes of elderly and disabled residents in Utah and Idaho.
Zions entered the Idaho market in 1997, with the purchase of 13 branches across the state. Over the last 16 years, Zions Bank has grown its Idaho market share to rank as the No. 3 bank in the Gem State, based on deposits.
For Zions Bank, I'm Chris Redgrave, speaking on business.
