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“Just when I thought I was out … they pull me back in,” Michael Corleone complains in The Godfather: Part III.

Kyle Waters knows the feeling, though he’s not complaining. It’s banking, after all—not the mob—from which he’s having a hard time extricating himself.

The 36-year industry veteran and former head of Hibernia National Bank/Capital One Bank’s Southern region allowed himself to be lured from a three-month stint as a founding partner with Hibernia Consultants to become president of Metairie-based Omni Bank.

The bank was founded in 1988, but it has been in an aggressive expansion mode in recent years, including a large branch on Jefferson Highway in Baton Rouge, where it’s concentrating much of its efforts these days. Waters was hired to run Omni’s day-to-day operations and lead the bank’s expansion activities.

1. Since Katrina, Omni has opened several new branches besides Baton Rouge. What’s behind the extreme growth?

After the storm a lot of companies—not just banks—wanted to expand into other geographical regions, and others wanted to diversify their risks. Certainly that made sense. We wanted to be a player in the market. We’re very interested in growing, especially the Baton Rouge market. It’s a good market. It hasn’t felt the downturn to the extent that other parts of the country, and even to some extent the Greater New Orleans area, have.

2. What opportunities do you see?

If you’re a business person, let’s say your customers have slowed down their purchasing, whether it’s goods or services. What you should be doing is getting close to those customers, understanding what’s important to your customers and then making subtle changes in your company’s strategy to make sure you stay connected to that customer. No question every business is cutting back right now. From the bank’s point of view, customers and talent are in play for banks.

3. What kind of talent?

One large bank announced layoffs in the Baton Rouge market. That puts a lot of good, talented employees in play. Customers are looking for an alternative and employees are looking for an alternative.

4. Big national banks are having a tough time. How is Omni faring?

We have good capital, we have good liquidity, we have good talent and we have good bankers. I think we’re in good shape. Do we have our own real estate loan challenges? Sure. I bet you can’t find one bank that doesn’t have real estate loan challenges, but we’ll work through those. Hopefully the economy will turn around and make life a little easier.

5. What’s your prediction for the Baton Rouge economy? Are things going to get worse before they get better?

I believe the economy is turning around slowly, and sometimes toward the end of year it’s going to be much, much better. I think things will continue to bounce along on the bottom. Unemployment could go up a little bit. Real estate could go down a little bit. Home sales could stretch out a little bit longer. Could they get worse? Sure, but I don’t think you’re going to see it worse than you have in the past.

6. Obviously you’d like to be making more loans, but aren’t tougher loan terms prohibitive for some borrowers these days?

At Omni, we’re absolutely out looking for loan volume, both consumers and small business. In fact, we’re getting ready to launch a new consumer loan campaign. There’s no question that banks have toughened up their underwriting standards. We’re making sure we don’t make the same mistakes as in the past. Bankers need to have long memories. The economy goes in cycles. It’s important that we learn from this cycle.

7. Does that mean the freewheeling days of little or no money down are gone forever?

You’re seeing banks like Omni and others asking for the traditional amount of equity in transactions. Banks were lending up to 100% of value. It shows you that banks forgot the lessons learned in other economic cycles. It all depends on the basic five Cs: collateral, credit, character of borrower, capacity and conditions—conditions being the economic conditions you’re in right now. That’s what they teach you in Banking 101.

8. Jim Hudson, Omni’s CEO and chairman, says an opportunity exists now for a community bank to serve clients as a “financial partner”—just as it did in the post-bust years when he founded the bank. What’s he talking about?

What he’s talking about is the disruption in the market caused by the economy, No. 1. No. 2, as you watch community banks and compare them to large national banks—the big boys, if you will—they think this is an opportunity for community banks like Omni to take advantage of the disruption, because sometimes the large national and international banks make decisions without really understanding the local market.

9. You say clients should be talking to their bankers and asking them questions. What should they be asking?

They ought to be asking questions like, “What’s your capital strength?” For example, Omni has a good capital level, 8.4%. That’s a good strong capital level compared to our peers. They should ask where decisions are being made. Are they contracting in their lending, or are they trying to support their community, grow their community? In other words, is the bank lending money?

10. How much did your extensive background in Baton Rouge banking have to do with Omni hiring you as president?

I was stationed in Baton Rouge for 16 years and was president of that market for Hibernia for many of those years, so my roots are pretty deep in Baton Rouge. I raised my children in Baton Rouge. From a business point of view, I grew up in Baton Rouge. Because of those connections and those roots, I think I can help Omni grow its Baton Rouge presence. I’ll be spending a lot of time in Baton Rouge.

THE WATERS FILE

Name: Kyle Waters

Education: University of Louisiana at Lafayette [business management, 1973]; University of Oklahoma [national commercial lending school, 1980]; LSU [Graduate School of Banking, 1983]

Professional: Senior vice president, Hibernia National Bank, New Orleans [1973-85]; senior vice president, Jefferson Guaranty Bank, Metairie [1985]; senior vice president-retail and business, Hibernia National Bank, Baton Rouge [1985-2001]; executive vice president-Greater New Orleans retail and small business, New Orleans [2001-03]; Hibernia National Bank, executive vice president-Louisiana retail and small business, New Orleans [2003-06]; Capital One Bank, executive vice president-Texas retail and small business, Dallas [2006]; Capital One Bank, senior executive vice president/chief of staff to southern banking president, New Orleans [2007-08]; Hibernia Consultants, founding partner, New Orleans [2008-09]; Omni Bank, president/board member, Metairie [2009-present]