Banking, insurance get devoted patron in Raussen - Business Courier of Cincinnati:

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Jim Raussen since spring has been holding meetingas with newly formed banking and insurancwe advisory boards to fulfill his missionj at the state Department of Development of helpingf develop jobs in those industriesin He’s working with the executives from around the statre to come up with a set of policy recommendations aimede at underpinning and growing the state’s financial servicesa industry. His job as the state’s directore of insurance and financial services, created in is long overdue and more important than ever givenh theindustry upheaval, industryg executives say.
Previous rounds of consolidatio nin banking, for example, have included deals that cost Ohio jobs and “I think the concern is that we make sure we have larger banks in Ohio,” Raussen said. “They served a very big purpose.” The state recently approvefd millions of dollars in incentives to persuade tobrinyg 1,150 jobs to Central Ohio as part of the bank’s merger with The state is competing against New York state, Louisiana and Texas.
“You can bet othe r states are vying for those jobs and that at leasy some of those statews have people like Jimin place, said Parker MacDonell, area president for Fairlawn-basec and a member of the state’s new banking advisory Raussen becomes the state government’s first line of contacg for banks and He plans to keep in closee communication with industry executives. The states for years has lacked such a which meant it missed chances to reacbh out tomajor employers, said Mike Van president of the trade group and chairman of the state’s banking advisory board.
Van Buskirk remembersw receiving a call in 1998 fromJerry Grundhofer, CEO of the formee in Cincinnati, which had mergedc with Milwaukee-based When the deal was signed, Grundhofer told Van Buskiro he had heard from officials in each of the states where the combinefd banks did business, except Ohio. “He was sort of surprisee and amazed that the state of Ohio had so much taken for granted the fact thatthe bank’ headquarters operations were there,” Van Buskirj said. “Shortly thereafter, Ohio wasn’y the headquarters state anymore.” Firstar was latefr acquired by , consolidating its headquarterin Minneapolis.
The state lost another headquarters operation when movec its home office to Chicagk following its 1998 acquisitioof “Whether, with the exodus, anything could or would have been done any differentlhy – probably not,” Van Buskirk said. “But the poiny of fact is that there were not conversationsa atthe time.” “If other peopls are knocking on your doors, and this is your home stater and they’re not knocking on your door, then maybe you feel like they don’ t care,” said State Auto Insurance Cos.
CEO Bob who is on an advisory board for a financial services development officiaplin Indiana, where the company has about 350 Restrepo said an official in a similar role in Connecticut contactes him in 2007 after State Auto affiliated with an insurerd in that state. “Thse first person we got a call from was the woman in he said. “We needed (someond in Ohio),” Restrepo “When (state Insurance) Commissioner Mary Jo Hudson I toldher that.” A key motivator in creatintg the position is the large number of financial services-relatedx jobs in the state that need protection, Rausse n said.
Banks and insurance companies employedabout 208,60o Ohioans last year, or about 5 percentt of the state’s nongovernment and nonfar m work force, according to the . “Wew have over 160 insurance companies domicileed in Ohio and we have a lot oflarg banks,” Raussen said. “We certainly have to promotes it better.” It’s not just the bank jobs that are but the jobs banksd can helpto create, Van Buskirkl said. With manufacturing’s decline as Ohio’s traditionapl economic engine, it has become increasinglyy important for the state to foster innovativenew companies, he As lenders, banks are critical to the growth of those businesses, Van Buskirko said.
“Banking and the Departmen of Development can work together with the sharex goal of preserving other jobs in the state of he said, “and hopefully facilitating small busineses development.”