Page 23 - BusinessWest March 20, 2023

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Chase
Continued from page 20
help them with,” he explained, gestur- ing away from the front door toward the offices in back.
“But we equip a lot of our associates with tablets,” he added. “So in addition to helping them back there, however we can help support them face to face, sitting down in the lobby area, we will do that with the resources and tools we have.”
Besides banking business, Chase also wants to connect with Greater Springfield in other ways, Zaidi
said, through financial-literacy pro- grams and other types of community outreach.
“The idea is to have our branches be community anchors. So when we think about financial-literacy conversa- tions, be it with young professionals or small-business owners, we want
to host workshops and assistance
in that space as well,” he explained, noting that Chase is working on sev- eral community-development efforts around financial literacy, including a partnership with Western New Eng- land University. “So this would serve as an anchor for us where we could do before- or after-hours seminars and events. It makes sense.”
Tobaran added that the bank’s employees also reflect its region, as the branch hired locally, including people who hail from the Latino and Vietnamese communities, among others.
“We want some familiar faces to be representing Chase, saying, ‘hey, these are the resources we have to help you accomplish your goal.’ It was impor- tant for us to get local talent, people who had ties to the community, peo- ple who are passionate about giving back and who genuinely want to see Springfield succeed.”
Continued from page 22
Only the Beginning
Zaidi and Tobaran know Chase
is making an ambitious surge into a region some have called overbanked, and where community banks have long dominated. But they say Chase is com- mitted to local residents and organi- zations in much the same way locally headquartered banks are, while also bringing vast financial resources to the table.
“When you think about Chase, we have the resources of a large global corporation,” Zaidi said. “And our vision is, how do we take those resources and localize the solutions for our custom- ers? Our technology and data analysis help us strategize and take a more tar- geted approach, because all the branch- es are going to operate differently based on the community-specific needs.”
One example is a partnership with Habitat for Humanity, one of the orga-
nizations that will be on hand on March 15 for the branch’s official grand-open- ing festivities.
“That’s one way Oumkar and his team have been making an impact in the community already,” Zaidi said. “We feel that we can be a valued contribu- tor in that space among all the other banks. The competitive edge that we have is not only through our resources, but with the community aspect that we are trying to drive here.” BW
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Leases
cial covenants and proactively work with financial institutions to consider whether amendments to covenants may be required.
There are many intricacies within the new lease standard, and it will
be a learning process for all of those involved in preparing their company’s financial statements. The best thing
a company can do is take the time to make sure that they fully understand how each lease is written, and to have an open dialogue with their CPA. BW
Matthew Nash, CPA is a senior manager at the Holyoke-based accounting firm Meyers Brothers Kalicka, P.C.; (413) 536-8510.
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