Representatives from Riverview Community Bank took the stage to ring the ceremonial opening bell at the Nasdaq stock exchange Monday morning. President and CEO Kevin Lycklama and several other Riverview directors, board members and employees flew to New York for the event.
Joe Brantuk, Nasdaq’s vice president of listings, welcomed Lycklama to the stage a few minutes before 9:30 a.m. EDT and congratulated Riverview on its 96th anniversary in business and 26th year of trading its shares on the Nasdaq.
Lycklama began by thanking the bank’s staff and investors, both those who supported Riverview when it joined the Nasdaq in the 1990s and those who stuck with the bank during the Great Recession.
“We not only survived, but we thrived and became the largest community bank in the Portland metro area,” he said.
Brantuk then presented Lycklama with the opening bell ceremony crystal, and the rest of the Riverview representatives joined them on the stage to count down the final seconds leading up to 9:30 a.m., when Lycklama pushed the button to ring the bell and open the day’s trading.
By the time the market closed, Riverview’s stock was up 13 cents to $7.51 per share.
Riverview Community Bank and corporate parent company Riverview Bancorp are headquartered in Vancouver.
The bank was founded in 1923 in Camas as the Clarke County Savings and Loan Association. The bank began opening branch offices in 1963, and in 1971, the company changed its name to Riverview Savings Association to reflect the fact that it had expanded beyond Clark County.
The name Riverview was intended to invoke the Columbia River, according to the bank’s website. Riverview went public in 1993 and began trading on the Nasdaq under the symbol RVSB.
The bank took on its current name in 1998, when corporate partner Riverview Trust Company (then known as Riverview Asset Management) began providing investment services.
The company currently operates 18 branches in Southwest Washington and Oregon, the majority of which are in Clark County.
