Megabanks vs. Local Banks

In a crisis, it’s no contest:

Banks Gave Richest Clients ‘Concierge Treatment’ for Pandemic Aid. Most megabanks mean well, they're just too big to cater to all their customers. (One megabank may not have meant well, according to this USA Today report.)

How a family-owned Nebraska bank became a leader on coronavirus loans. Working from home, The Washington Post reports, employees hustled to process small-business applications under the Paycheck Protection Program.

Union Bank and Trust is nowhere near the top of the banking leagues. Last year the family-owned institution, with 900 employees, was the nation’s 202nd largest bank by assets, according to the Federal Reserve. Yet 72 hours into the emergency lending program, it ranked second in the nation for number of loans approved, according to the Small Business Administration.

One of our daughters recently switched from a big, multinational bank to a local bank. She says she couldn’t be happier. I begin to see why.

Can You Spot a Trust Company?

As they liked to say back in the age of print, you can't judge a book by its cover.

Optima Bank and Trust, despite its name, offers no trustee or investment services.

Glenmede, despite its ad logo, is of course a trust company.

Takeaway: Use "trust" in your name if you wish your personal banking services to sound upscale. Eschew "trust" if you want to be seen as a forward-looking wealth manager.

Hey, we don't make the marketing rules. We just report them.

Unhand Those Little Old Banks!

Community banks fear the nation's largest banks may use the billions of dollars they are getting from taxpayers to buy smaller banks rather than make new loans, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The Washington Post seems to like community banks well enough. Recently we mentioned The Post's write-up of small banks in the D.C. area. Here The Post profiles Farmer's Savings Bank, a thriving little old bank in Iowa. Summarizing personal trust and investment services on one web page isn't simple; Farmers does a concise job.

The last little old bank in Portmouth, New Hampshire, has revved up its marketing. Piscataqua Savings Bank is running a nice series of testimonials from happy customers (including trust customers!). The bank also has revamped its web site. Take a look and admire two marketing strategies worth emulating:

1. Keep it simple. Anyone can understand the links in the menu across the top of the home page: LOANS • DEPOSITS • TRUSTS & INVESTMENTS. You can't imagine how refreshing that is. No "Private Client Services," "Legacy Planning" or –worst of all – that inscrutable phrase, "Personal Financial Services."

2. If you've got it, flaunt it. Many of us bank with organizations that change names and/or managements every few years. Wouldn't you like to have your trust handled by a little old bank that's been around since 1877 and still going strong?

In Praise of Little Old Banks

Well! Sounds like some big national banks will be really "national."

As The Washington Post reports here, little old community banks look awfully good by comparison. Deposits are pouring in. Seven-figure deposits, sometimes!

If you're the trust wing of a little old bank like Burke and Herbert or Sandy Spring – two of the community banks mentioned by the Post – opportunity for new trust business from affluent new bank customers isn't just knocking, it's practically breaking the door down.

[Start of commercial message] Many other community trust departments around the country have similar opportunities. Merrill Anderson has geared up to provide the marketing tools needed to seize those opportunities. [End of commercial message]

P.S. Burke & Herbert surely has one of the top-ten bank mascots.