You played a role in the formation of Signature Bank and Springfield First Community Bank. How did you get involved with the two? I was at Boatmen’s Bank when Nation’s Bank came in to buy them out. Dave Kunze decided to form Signature Bank and I left with the group in 1997.
You quietly hear that some directors are moving from this large buyout and forming a small community bank, something we all enjoyed and loved at Boatmen’s. I wanted to be a part of that. I applied and started before they even opened the doors. I helped develop products and policies. It was exciting to be there Day One when we opened the doors. At that point, we were opening 60 accounts a day.
You’re now the chief operating officer at SFCB and were recently promoted from senior vice president to executive vice president. What’s the difference? It’s a subtle change for me because of my role as the COO. I already had an executive title and responsibilities. Typically, senior VPs are managing areas of the bank. I rose to that level and was managing almost 20 people. When you get to that level, it’s through time and management skills. EVP is different. There is more scrutiny on your personal end from the regulators to make sure you handle your personal finances. It truly is the final cap. When things roll down hill, it’s the last stop. Everything that can go wrong, ends up at that EVP level. They are in the same category as a C-level, a CEO, COO and CFO. It’s all about being accountable.
What does your role as bank chief operating officer entail? Anything that doesn’t relate to loans falls into my realm. It can be as minor as bank signs and the building to security of the bank. I can visibly see the entry points, exit points, our teller lines and drive-thrus from a security aspect.
I handle the operational side of the bank, watching for risk and fraud. Compliance is another big issue. There are so many regulations we have to manage and oversee. From the point of when the customer walks in the door and opens a new account, all the way up. I watch for identity theft. It’s all about controls and checks and balances.
You also oversee new product development. What is the bank working on? You have to stay on top of the products you currently offer, but we are always looking for new ways to add something that adds shareholder value and something that’s a product of convenience for our customers. That might be mobile banking, a mobile app and mobile deposits. We are currently rolling that out, but we always need to be looking at what our peers are offering that we aren’t offering today. What are customers asking us for?
According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., SFCB reported net income of $1.06 million as June 30, up 45 percent over last year and the seventh fastest growing in the MSA. To what do you attribute the gain? Loan growth and asset quality. We have been very fortunate. When we started this bank in 2008, it was kind of a tricky time, a downward time, especially with the market for home loans. Fortunately, we had no baggage. We started clean, we knew what we needed to do and we stayed that way, so it worked to our advantage.
One of the newer things we did do is open a home loan center, and we’re trying to grow it actively. That takes time because there are a lot of strong groups in the market that already had that share. That’s not contributing to our growth – it’s actually probably a negative right now – but it’s still in the growth phase.
After 25 years in the banking industry, what do you see as its biggest challenge? I’d like to say regulatory changes, and that’s a big thing, but it’s really fraud. You can’t be complacent. There is always some new something. If you add a layer, they find a way to get around that. You have to try and be one step ahead of them. Fraud is ever changing and there is no silver bullet. You always have to be thinking of new ways to tighten things down and make it stronger.
You want customers to feel safe and secure, but when your local Target, Staples and Home Depot are targets, there is no safe source of funds other than cash. We don’t want to go backwards in time; we are all about convenience, so we are always thinking.[[In-content Ad]]
