Bank catering to Asians opens

The First Asian Bank became the first Asian-oriented bank in Southern Nevada earlier this month, but a second bank that caters to Asians is close on its heels.

First International Bank of Plano, Texas, also is believed to be coming into the market. Officials at the $240 million asset institution did not respond to repeated calls for comment, but the Nevada Financial Institutions Division confirmed that First International is authorized to operate branches in Pahrump and Armagosa Valley.

The bank benefits from provisions of Assembly Bill 215, which Gov. Jim Gibbons signed into law, that allow it to expand into counties with more than 100,000 people because it had a rural branch before April 1.

First International's Web site states that it has employees who speak Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish, Korean and Vietnamese.

More information is available about First Asian Bank, which opened for business June 6. First Asian will hold its grand opening ceremonies today.

To attract customers, First Asian is offering one-year certificates of deposits that yield 5.5 percent and a money market account initially paying 5.08 percent with minimum deposits of $10,000 and more.

The bank started advertising on Sunday and has enjoyed a steady flow of new customers, both of Asian and non-Asian descent, said chief executive officer William Chu.

The First Asian staff will include employees fluent in Chinese, Thai, Korean, Japanese and Filipino. Chu said the bank wants to serve all customers regardless of ethnicity.

It will focus on small businesses with less than $20 million in annual sales, including doctors, lawyers and accountants.

First Asian intends to specialize in serving the needs of importers and exporters who do business in the Pacific Rim.

"My personal goal is to elevate the Las Vegas area as an international financial center," Chu said.

Las Vegas is losing business to Los Angeles and New York, but Chu believes international financial services could thrive here.

The bank started operations at 2610 S. Jones Blvd., but Chu plans to open a second branch at 3911 Spring Mountain Road in the Chinatown District in August.

First Asian is locally owned and started with $13.5 million in capital.

Dee Mallas is chairwoman. Other board members of First Asian are Hae Un Lee, Dr. R.D. Prabhu, Robert Iwamoto, Patricia Johnson-Barber, Nick Mallas, James Yu, John Zeigler and CEO Chu.