Banker: Texas leading economic recovery
Frost CEO says stable housing, fiscal sensibility makes Lone Star State in better shape than the rest of the country.
by Rick Waters '95
Cullen/Frost Bankers chief executive officer Dick Evans says Texas is attracting more Fortune 500 companies than any other state.
Texas is in better shape than the rest of the country due to a diverse mix of industries, a state budget surplus and a stable housing market, a banking executive said this morning at the first installment of the 2009-10 Tandy Executive Speaker Series.
“We don’t have the distressed housing market of Florida, the fiscal chaos of California or the unemployment of New York,” said Dick Evans, chairman and chief executive office of Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc.
“I don’t buy into the theory of last into the recession and last out,” he continued. “We’ve got stable industries in technology, oil and gas, ranching, medicine. Our state demographics show growth. We have more Fortune 500 companies moving here than any other state.”
To Frost, Fort Worth and Tarrant County remain very desirable markets, similar to San Antonio, the company’s headquarters, said Evans, who is also a member of the Federal Advisory Council to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Fort Worth is among the leading markets in loans, indicating that it is ahead of the recovery curve.
During conversation with Neeley School of Business dean O. Homer Erekson ’74, Evans did warn that as the recession wanes, homeowners and consumers should no longer use their home equity to fund their lifestyle.
“They need to stop treating their home like it’s an ATM,” said Evans, who has been with Frost for 38 years, a dozen as CEO.
Evans also took a few swipes at the government-sponsored Troubled Asset Relief Program, of which Frost declined to take money.
“I’m a believer in capitalism and less government,” he said. “We quit the residential mortgage business in 2000 as those products became commoditized. We felt it was contrary to the kind of relationships we have with our customers.”
Evans also said the Frost, even without TARP funds, can compete with government supported banks.
“We can compete,” he said. “Bring them on.”
