Los Alamos National Bank CEO Retires

Los Alamos National Bank’s chief executive officer has announced his retirement.

Bill Enloe, who has worked for the bank for 42 years, becoming bank president in 1978 at the age of 29, submitted his letter of resignation Feb. 1.

Enloe could not be reached for comment. But in his letter, he said he had “mixed emotions” about retiring from the bank, its holding company Trinity Capital, and the Title Guaranty and Insurance Company.

“I have been with Los Alamos National Bank since 1971 and watched the bank grow from a small community bank with just over $11 million to a bank with over $1 billion in assets,” Enloe said in his letter. “I sincerely believe Los Alamos National Bank is one of the best community banks in the state.”

The bank is also the state’s largest local institution, commanding 86 percent of banking market share in Los Alamos and more than 20 percent in Santa Fe, ahead of First National Bank of Santa Fe, which came in second in Santa Fe market share in 2012, according to LANB’s most recent annual report. The bank is also the state’s largest mortgage lender.

Bank president Steve Wells, who will take over as interim CEO, said he had “some indication” that Enloe was planning to retire.

“He gave the chairman of the board his letter on Feb. 1 and they contacted me over the weekend,” Wells said. “I don’t know that I was necessarily surprised. He’d worked with the bank 42 years, and spent a lot of his life and career here. We wish him the best.”

Wells, who has worked at the bank 28 years, said he had spent half his professional life working with Enloe.

“I certainly have a lot of admiration for his achievements and contributions,” Wells said. “He’s run the bank since it was a baby. We all have a great deal of respect for what he’s accomplished.”

In a 2012 interview with Albuquerque Business First, Enloe said he got into the banking business by accident – in 1971 he had a 1-A draft classification and dropped into the bank to prepare his financial affairs for his expected call-up. Bank employees suggested he take a job there until he was drafted. He did, and a few months later, the draft was suspended. He worked at the bank or its holding company from then on.

Regulatory issues

The bank has been under regulatory restrictions imposed by the federal Comptroller of the Currency on and off since 2010 for what the agency called “unsafe or unsound banking practices relating to management and board supervision, credit underwriting, credit administration and deficiencies in internal controls.”

In November, when regulators imposed the latest set of restrictions, Wells said LANB expected to have complied with most of the required changes in bank practices by the end of the first quarter of this year, in March.

Wells said Thursday that Enloe’s retirement was unrelated to the bank’s relationship with federal regulators.

“I think it was his desire, it was what he wanted to do,” Wells said.

A person who answered the phone at Enloe’s home said he would have no comment.

Wells said Enloe has left in place “a really strong senior management team and a great organization.”

“I don’t think the board will have to move overly quickly” to find a permanent CEO to replace Enloe,” Wells said. “I think the board will take action at a pace they think is good for the organization.”