Feb. 11--Local businessman Don Adam said Tuesday that opening a local branch of his successful Florida-based bank is part of his "renewed focus" on the Bryan-College Station community.

On Tuesday, Adam officially announced the opening of a local branch of American Momentum Bank in College Station.

Adam, who has business interests across the United States, said he'd always felt a connection to Bryan-College Station.

"My absolute pride has always been what I had here," he said.

All 13 members of the bank's staff are his former banking employees, Adam said, adding that no one turned down a job offer.

The bank began full-service operations Jan. 26 in a portable building behind Adam's 10-story tower on University Drive in east College Station.

This is Adam's first local banking venture since he sold First American Bank to Citigroup in 2005.

A three-year no-compete clause ended last year, he said.

Already in business

Several recent events led Adam to re-establish a banking presence here, he said. But, ultimately, he said, he simply missed being in the local banking business.

"I felt a void after I no longer owned First American," he said.

Adam, who turns 74 this month, built First American Bank from the ground up, acquiring 14 failed financial institutions in the late 1980s.

First American, with more than $3.5 billion in assets, was the largest privately owned bank in Texas when Adam sold it to Citigroup in 2005. The details of the sale were not disclosed, although analysts put the price around $750 million.

Adam described the merger with Citigroup as "disappointing." He said he chose to sell to a bank without a Texas presence to keep as many jobs as possible.

Citigroup eliminated at least 200 jobs when it acquired First American, which had almost 400 employees when Adam owned it.

"It hasn't worked in the manner I hoped it would," he said.

Another locally owned financial institution, First National Bank, was sold to Franklin Bank in 2006 for more than $143 million. Tim Bryan's family had owned the bank for 144 years before it was sold.

When Franklin Bank failed last fall, Adam said, many of First National's former customers came to him.

Those customers added to a "long list" of local residents who have been banking with American Momentum long-distance, Adam said.

When that number reached a certain level, Adam said, he decided to come back to town. He declined to say how many local customers American Momentum has.

Although the national banking economy is floundering, Adam said, he has no qualms about establishing a bank in Bryan-College Station.