All in the family: Missouri cousins run 2 top-ranked banks

By Sharon Silke Carty, USA TODAY
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — On a shelf near his computer monitors, UMB Financial CEO J. Mariner Kemper keeps a small bottle of amber cologne. It smells horrible, honestly, but that doesn't matter. He rarely opens it.

The cologne was made by a customer in the 1950s, who took a substantial loan to start a line of men's scents. He quickly failed, and the bank's collateral included a warehouse full of the worthless bottles. The bank, then run by Kemper's grandfather, gave them out as Christmas presents.

The bottle is a reminder to act conservatively, Kemper says.

"My father always said you should row close to shore," says Kemper, 37. "I've taken that to mean in everything we do, we need to manage the risks. ... Never do something that could take the whole business down."

Sticking to its conservative approach earned Kansas City, Mo.-based UMB the No. 2 spot, behind Bank of Hawaii, on Forbes magazine's rating at the end of 2009 of the 100 largest U.S. banks from best to worst.

Cross-state rival Commerce Bank, with headquarters in St. Louis and Kansas City, followed a similar strategy, landing itself at No. 3 on the Forbes list.

"There's something in the water here," he says.

It also could be the genes. Commerce's CEO is Kemper's cousin, David Kemper.

Their great-grandfather, W.T. Kemper, had stakes in several banks: Two, through various name changes, became today's UMB and Commerce.

While other banks in the past decade chased profits in subprime mortgages and financial instruments whose risks most people, including the bankers, did not understand, UMB, a regional bank with operations in seven states, and Commerce, which operates in five states, made relatively conservative loans and cautiously managed customers' money.

Now, as Congress deliberates over new regulations for financial companies, bankers such as Kemper feel they're being punished for someone else's recklessness.


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