Page 25 - BusinessWest August 8, 2022

ley, NUVO Bank (since acquired by Community Bank), focused on a mostly digital banking model, New Valley wanted to stress more of a brick-and- mortar foundation. It currently has two branches in Springfield, both downtown and on Wilbraham Road in Sixteen Acres.
A third branch is expected to open in Septem- ber on a former Holyoke Credit Union site at 333 Elm St. in downtown West Springfield.
“We evaluated it and thought it was a really good opportunity,” Sullivan said. “There’s some old-school thinking that people don’t like cross- ing the river; they don’t like to be forced to go to downtown Springfield. We had a steady chorus of people saying, ‘could you please open something on the west side of the river?’ So we were pretty sure our next branch would be on the west side of the river, but we weren’t sure exactly where. This opportunity just kind of dropped in our lap.”
One advantage of the new office will be drive- up convenience, which downtown Springfield customers don’t have. But there are other reasons customers value conveniently located branches, even at a time when adoption of mobile and online banking has soared.
“People say bank branches are going to go away at some point and go fully electronic. But
I think there is still a safety blanket when people know there’s a bank branch close to their location, and when they go in for some of the important transactions, like opening accounts or applying for a loan, or when they really need advice, they can show up in person.
“That builds confidence,” he added. “They probably go to our branches very infrequently, unless they’re in some kind of cash business where they have to go all the time. But I think
people want to know there’s somebody that they trust within a relatively short drive of where they are, and they can lean on that person if they need to.”
The team at New Valley makes a point of engaging with customers, he added. “If they’ve got any questions, we try to give them advice as best we can. And people are just very apprecia- tive of that. We’re so small that, if I get a call and it happens to be about a customer-service issue, I can run right upstairs and take care of it pretty much on the spot.”
That was especially true during the pandem- ic, when community-focused banks and credit unions helped customers navigate some truly trying times, with Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and in other ways.
“There’s nothing better than somebody calls
a year later and says, ‘I may not have told you at the time, but I was really struggling, and you guys really helped me out.’ That’s always great to hear.”
The pandemic also saw banks expand their digital capabilities as customers embraced those technologies like never before.
“Our industry was behind the curve in terms of adoption of technology in a lot of ways,” Sullivan said. “But since 2020, everybody knows how to use their phone to do their banking transactions. Most people know how to make a deposit with their mobile device. People are more savvy. Banks, as a result of that, are trying to automate more and more their processes.
“With the PPP loans, people could apply online and didn’t have to talk to a human being; they could sign up electronically, and we could get everything done remotely — because we had to do it remotely,” he went on. “Now, we’ve taken
those best practices and rolled them into nor- mal post-pandemic business. We want people to be able to go online with a few clicks and apply
“
parity. But as those barriers disappear, we’re seeing a swell of Latino and African- American businesses that are starting up — really smart, talented people who are choosing to move to this area because they feel like there are resources here.”
for a loan, and we can deliver the documents electronically.”
At New Valley — and at most other banks, it seems — there’s certainly a place for both high- tech and in-person services, and neither are fad- ing away.
“It’s not that we don’t want to have those in- person interactions with people,” he added, “but sometimes it’s just a whole lot more convenient to be able to email the documents to somebody, theysignit—whetherat7atnightor7inthe morning — and it’s back in our inbox the next day, and we take care of it.”
Long-term Partners
There have been barriers getting to
Sullivan was quick to tout other
New Valley
Continued on page 27
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The CT Trolley Museum has been in operation for over 82 years and is the oldest incorporated trolley museum in the United States.
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