Texas Border Business
By Roberto Hugo González
On July 10, 2024, Lone Star National Bank hosted its third “Lunch and Learn” session, focusing on the vital topics of borrowing money and company structures. Julian Alvarez, Executive Vice President of the Community Relations Department, welcomed attendees and introduced the session.
“Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Julian Alvarez, and I am the executive vice president of the community relations department. Welcome to our third Lunch and Learn session. Thank you to those who have been here a couple of times.
For those who don’t know, we have a questionnaire that we’d like you to fill out. In that questionnaire, we want to know whether you bank with us and tell us what you’d like to see regarding future programs we could host. Certainly, following today’s presentation, we would like an opportunity for you to ask questions loud enough so that everybody can hear them. Let us do our very best to answer those questions.
Today, we will be talking about our loan department. Our Executive Vice President, Victor ‘Seby’ Haddad, will be doing the presentation. We have another session scheduled for August and another one in September. Please come and RSVP. Before I turn it over to our speaker for today, I want to acknowledge Mr. David Penoli, EVP and CFO at Lone Star National Bancshares-Texas Inc. & Lone Star National Bank, who is also present during this important seminar.”
David Penoli, EVP and CFO took the stage to share a light-hearted moment and welcome the attendees. “We’re reaching out to our business community, both customers and non-customers, and we’ve presented some pretty good materials and seminars. Let’s start with Victor ‘Seby’ Haddad, the Executive Vice President and Chief Lending Officer at Lone Star National Bank.”
Haddad began his presentation by emphasizing the importance of understanding borrowing principles, particularly for startups and businesses looking to expand. “I want to get right into the presentation because we’ve got two parts to ensure we hit on: the basics of borrowing money. This is catered towards businesses that are either starting up, maybe in their first couple of years, but have yet to borrow money and are trying to figure out how to introduce themselves to the bank or maybe need to take on a more sophisticated level of borrowing.
We also want to move on to company structure, which is for those looking at how to set themselves and their company up and the pros and cons of different types of entities. It will be a broad overview, but it’ll be very beneficial for small business owners.”
Haddad discussed the essentials of borrowing money, tailored towards businesses in their early stages or those new to borrowing. The seminar provided valuable insights into the fundamentals of borrowing money and the various company structures available to small business owners. Haddad emphasized the importance of being prepared with proper documentation, understanding the bank’s perspective, and choosing the right company structure to protect assets and optimize tax benefits. Lone Star National Bank’s commitment to supporting small businesses through education and tailored financial services was a recurring theme throughout the presentation.
The next part of the seminar discussed company structures, providing a broad overview of the various types and their benefits. Two more seminars are scheduled for this year, one in August and another in September, bringing together 50 to 70 attendees each time.
Haddad also introduced Lone Star National Bank, established in 1983. The bank celebrated its 40th anniversary last year and is recognized as a minority depository institution and one of the largest privately owned banks for the Hispanic minority in the nation. He pointed out that Lone Star National Bank focuses on serving underserved communities, particularly Hispanics and low-to-moderate-income areas. It has 38 banking centers and 54 ATM locations and has a broad history of engagement in community service through donations and volunteer work, including various employee teams and activities.
