John F. “Jack” Murphy has held the reins as CEO and president of BankNewport and its holding company, OceanPoint Financial Partners MHC, since May 2021. Prior to that, he had more than 30 years of banking experience, most recently serving as president of business banking at Citizens Bank. OceanPoint recently announced it had finished 2022 with $105.6 million in total revenue, up from $104 million a year earlier.
PBN: With more than 30 years of experience in financial services, you’ve seen a lot. What are the biggest challenges that you see facing banking for the next year?
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MURPHY: The [Federal Reserve] has been very aggressive over the past year raising interest rates, so managing interest-rate risk is important. Helping our customers navigate through a possible recession will also be a challenge, but we are up to the task. After 200-plus years, it won’t be the first one we’ve managed, and it won’t be the last.
PBN: How has increasing economic uncertainty had an impact on BankNewport and its clients? Are you hunkering down for a recession or are you optimistic?
MURPHY: We’ve been preparing for a recession since mid-2022. I think economic conditions are going to be tough for the foreseeable future. Inflation is having an impact on families and businesses across Rhode Island. The cost of goods and supplies has increased, so prices have increased in kind.
Like any prudent business, we are carefully managing our expenses. We’ve been investing in our people and digital banking solutions for our customers for the past two years and we are going to continue to do so. That will put us in a stronger position when the economy improves.
PBN: You’ve done big at Citizens and you’ve done smaller, as CEO of BankNewport. What services do the smaller banks offer that the bigger banks can’t touch? What led you to move to a smaller institution?
MURPHY: The move was based on the opportunity to lead a community bank. BankNewport is a mutual bank, not a publicly traded stock bank. It’s refreshing to work for a bank that focuses on long-term success, not its stock price or what Wall Street analysts think. Living in Newport has its benefits, as well.
Our services are similar to the big banks; we offer an array of personal banking products – checking/savings, mortgages, home equity loans, school loans, and more, business banking products, plus the unique offerings from our family of brands, OceanPoint Investment Solutions and OceanPoint Marine Lending.
What makes BankNewport different is our culture and our people. We are consistently rated as one of the best places to work, our employees tend to have longer tenures than those at the big banks, and our customers also have relationships with our bankers. It’s easier to do that when you don’t have millions of customers and tens of thousands of employees like the big banks do.
PBN: To what do you attribute BankNewport’s steadily growing assets and deposits? Many small banks took a hit last quarter, will you see something similar?
MURPHY: We continue to grow deposits and loans. Our deposits have increased since March. Our growth is driven from a solid strategy of focusing on our customers and supporting the communities we serve.
PBN: Are smaller institutions worried about financial technology companies muscling in on their clients? What can the community and regional banks do to keep them at bay?
MURPHY: Years ago, all banks were worried about fintechs. The fintechs have come to realize that instead of competing with banks, they are better off partnering with us. Banks already have the customer base, established businesses and the experience working with government regulators. Based on this, banks are now viewing fintechs as partners that can create opportunities as opposed to a threat.
Sam Wood is a PBN staff writer. Contact him at Wood@PBN.com.
