Bricks and mortar wooing clients

IN TOWN: Charlie Wilson, owner of The Town Trader in Glocester, says that having a responsive, local institution such as Navigant Credit Union has helped him prosper. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL PERSSON
IN TOWN: Charlie Wilson, owner of The Town Trader in Glocester, says that having a responsive, local institution such as Navigant Credit Union has helped him prosper. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL PERSSON

With many financial services easily accessible online and on smartphones, some banks in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts are sticking to the strategy of expanding the number of bricks-and-mortar branches as a valuable presence for consumer and commercial customers.
“We’ve had a branch-expansion strategy for some years now. It’s been slow and steady,” said Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Navigant Credit Union Lisa Dandeneau. “It accelerated a bit last year because there were some acquisition opportunities, so we had more expansion than we would have in a typical year.”
Navigant and other local banks are diverging from the national trend.
“Following years of nearly unchecked expansion, financial institutions across the U.S. are closing thousands of outposts, as pressures mount to cut costs and more customers embrace online and mobile banking,” according to a March 31 story in the Wall Street Journal.
U.S. banks and thrifts shut 2,267 branches in 2012, according to SNL Financial, a Charlottesville, Va., research firm. “That put the U.S. bank-branch count at 93,000, the lowest since 2007, according to AlixPartners, a New York consulting firm,” the Wall Street Journal reported. “The firm expects the figures to drop to 80,000 over the next decade, putting the total closer in line with 2000 levels.”
As for Navigant, bricks-and-mortar branches have a long and rich history in Rhode Island. The first credit union in Rhode Island, it was founded in 1915 in Central Falls. Starting with assets of $22,000, Navigant grew to $15 million in assets by 1964 and currently has more than $1 billion in assets, according to the credit union website.
With growth to the current 63,000 members and 13 Rhode Island branches, Navigant has continued to add technological services while being dedicated to the value of personal service at community branches. “We have to be where people live and work and where their businesses are located,” said Dandeneau. “Our commitment is to offer access to all delivery channels. We have online banking, mobile apps, text banking. … We’ve found people still want to talk face-to-face to their financial advisers,” said Dandeneau.
That face-to-face communication is what cemented Navigant as the banking choice for Charlie Wilson, owner of The Town Trader, an antique shop in Glocester. He found out the hard way what happens to a small business when there’s no one to speak to in person. He ran into one glitch after another when he used another bank that had a branch in town.
“I never got a real person to resolve the issues at the other bank. I had some issues with third-party billing for credit cards. I’d say about 50 to 60 percent of my sales are with credit cards,” said Wilson. “The other bank used the overseas bank for processing and I’d talk to China or India for days at a time. I had major problems with money not being put where it should have been.”When Navigant opened a branch in Glocester, “I’d say within 30 days of the branch opening, my business was there. I went in and opened up two accounts,” said Wilson. “The customer service is absolutely wonderful.
“I need the branch physically somewhere close. I have from 15 to 30 checks a week. I need a place to get cash and coins,” said Wilson.
His credit card billing is going smoothly with Navigant and he can always get a person to talk to if there’s an issue, but there really haven’t been any, he said.
The commitment to community also impressed Wilson, who likes the wall with the timeline of local history at the branch. “Chepachet [village] has a rich history and the history wall is an entire wall in the branch that looks like a map,” said Dandeneau. “It has a big television screen and about 28 stories we’re highlighting at this time. Each story is about two minutes. They’re about events in the timeline of Chepachet, along with some placards on the wall.
Another bank that’s added bricks-and-mortar branches is Taunton-based Bristol County Savings Bank, which had a major expansion this year.
“We took on five new branches in two months. That’s the most we’ve done in the history of the bank,” said Bristol County Savings Bank President and CEO Patrick Murray.
The bank opened a new branch in Freetown, in May. That was just about one month after the bank acquired four branches from Admirals Bank, two in New Bedford and one each in Fall River and Raynham.
“The acquisition of Admirals and the new branch in East Freeport were part of our strategic plan,” said Murray.
Bristol County Savings Bank has 17 branches, with 16 in Massachusetts and the sole Rhode Island branch in Pawtucket, which opened about a dozen years ago.
For now, the bricks-and-mortar branches will stay at 17, with no other branches planned in the near future, Murray said. However, there’s always a possibility of filling in the bank’s market area, he said. While there are no plans to expand in Rhode Island at the present time, filling the bank’s market area could, at some point, include a branch in East Providence, Murray said.
The plan is to give customers what the bank has discovered they want – the convenience of online and mobile banking as well as personal service at a branch when they want it.
“You have to have a mix to be competitive,” said Murray. •

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