The Bank of the Pacific’s expanding Anacortes branch is piloting a new division: Private Client Service. Better known as private banking, it offers comprehensive banking services for affluent customers.

“With Anacortes being a highly desirable boating and retirement community there’s a very high concentration of high net worth individuals,” said Carrie Tisinger, who joined the branch recently. She has seven years of experience in private banking and is running the new program as the branch’s private banking officer.

The division handles all its clients’ banking needs, including personal and business accounts, credit, investment and charitable giving.

“It’s everything that encompasses a client’s financial well-being,” Tisinger said.

Michael Trafton, branch manager, said private banking was a good opportunity for the company to add another service for its customers.

“Demographically, Anacortes is in a good position to offer that,” he said.

New bank customers moving here have used private banking services in the past, and they want it here, too, Trafton said.

Private banking is open to anyone with more than $1 million net worth. The yearly fee is $100, which also gets clients special prices on other bank products and services.

Tisinger said it is a 24/7 job. She’s ready to do whatever a clients needs.

“What we really do is establish a long-term relationship with these people,” she said. “We want to be their forever bank and I want to be their forever banker.”

To make room for the new position — and two new real estate loan representatives — the bank is expanding its space, adding three offices upstairs.

“We envisioned we would eventually move up there,” Trafton said.

The 1,600-square-foot renovation is expected to be complete within a month.

The beams upstairs include 1927 stencils dating back to the building’s days as a movie theater. Trafton said they plan to refurbish some of the stencils and hang them as art upstairs.

“Instead of hanging a generic picture this is connected to the building,” he said.

The upstairs portion will also house real estate loan representatives Mark Johnson and Sharon Williamson.

Trafton said real estate lending is growing despite the “somewhat stagnant” housing market.

In general, he said the bank is growing. The Anacortes branch started with four employees and, after nearly two years at its 801 Commercial Ave. location, it is up to 10.

“Our bank is doing very well,” he said. “We’re very strong. Our volume is growing and our customer transactions are growing.”

Bank of the Pacific started more than 20 years ago in Grays Harbor with the idea to create a community bank where decisions would be made locally, services would be personal and faces would be familiar.

A new branch recently opened in Bellingham and Trafton said the company is expanding into Oregon.

Today, the bank has more than 215 employees and more than $530 million in assets with 19 branch locations.