Online Banker Eyes Tyler For 1,000 Jobs By BRIAN PEARSON, Business Editor   |   Mar 12, 2009

An online-banking operation waiting to clear a federal regulatory hurdle could bring almost 1,000 jobs and average yearly salaries of $60,000 to Tyler in the next decade, an economic development official said Wednesday.

The firm, whose name was not disclosed, has been researching the Tyler market for about a year and has a core team of about a half dozen representatives in place, said Tom Mullins, president and CEO of the Tyler Economic Development Council.

However, the announcement drew a mixed review from one Tyler banker, who said that while job creation, particularly of that magnitude, is good for the community, it creates competition for mortgages and deposits with locally based banks.

Mullins said the firm has ties to ING, a global banker that offers investments, life insurance and retirement services. ING serves more than 85 million customers in the United States, Europe, States, Canada, Latin America, Asia and Australia. The Tyler-based firm, overseen by an unnamed Jacksonville native, would concentrate on urban areas in Texas, the Southwest and "the middle of the country," Mullins said. The company's plan calls for creating 960 jobs in the next 10 years, Mullins said.

A formal announcement could come later this month, he added. The move remains tentative until final partnership agreements are reached and the company gets the green light from federal regulators, he said. "They've been working on this stuff for over a year," he said.

Mullins said the company would diversify an economy that has kept afloat during the current rough economic times thanks to multiple industries such as the medical, university and retail communities. "It furthers the effort to diversify away from the traditional oil and gas and manufacturing jobs," he said.

The Tyler area has lost between 2,500 and 3,000 jobs in the past 14 months, he noted. The job cuts have come from Goodyear, which closed last year, as well as Trane, and Tyler Pipe. Last week, CB&I announced that it was cutting 300 jobs this year at its Tyler operation and consolidating the work in Beaumont. Earlier this week, Eastman in Longview announced the elimination of 40 positions.

The Tyler-based online banking company would draw workers locally as well as statewide and nationwide, Mullins said. The company initially considered setting up in Austin but decided that Tyler's work force, growing university community and quality of life made it more attractive, he said.

The company believes the university community, with about 17,000 students enrolled in the Tyler area, is fertile hiring ground, he said. "They'd have an ongoing resource for bringing young talent into the company," Mullins said.

In addition, the company is attracted to the community's relatively low crime rate, traffic and labor competition, he said. "Tyler is still kind of an untapped market for those kinds of jobs," he said of the positions the banking firm would create for highly skilled professionals.

Mullins said the company's goal was to tap into urban areas, not to compete with Tyler's banking industry.

"They're not going after the Tyler market," he said. "They're going to be targeting major urban centers in Texas."

However, Jeff Austin III, board vice chairman for the Tyler-based Austin Bank, said the online operation would compete for local customers' loans and deposits.

The company's entry into the Tyler banking scene would be bittersweet, he said, adding that he has known about the company's plans for more than two years. "I'm always for creating jobs," Austin said. "If they're going to be based somewhere, I'd rather it be Tyler than Dallas."

However, online banking operations such as this are missing a big customer-service facet, he said.

"Customers still want to go into a bank and see who their banker is," Austin said. "Banks need to offer both, not just total online banking. "I don't think their banking is the absolute best, but there is a place for them. I wish them luck."