Page 24 - BusinessWest October 27, 2021

and consulted with folks on the front end to be sure it wasn’t a rubber stamp,” he said. “It was
a differentiator; I think the smaller banks really shined, and were nimble enough to support their customers. You can talk about being there for your customers when they need it, but could you deliver? I think Country Bank did.”
The bank is well-positioned to be a stable provider of financing going forward, he added, “because our capital ratios are head and shoul- ders above most other banks, which allows us to do a couple things. It means our lending limits are higher, but it also allows us to be patient and pragmatic with our customers.
“So I think we see an opportunity because of that,” he added. “We have a lot of capital to lend and the ability to lend it, but where we’re going to be most successful is really understanding our businesses, so that we can bank them through cycles. That is more important than ever, I think.”
Elaborating, Leonard said the pandemic rein- forced the need for banks to have close relation- ships with their commercial clients and really understand their business, and to understand how much struggle — or success — over the past two years was a pandemic-induced anomaly and how much might remain the trend going forward.
“The value add for any banker, especially a C&I lender, is knowing a company well enough to make those educated decisions,” he told Busi- nessWest. “Our strategy is to spend a lot of time getting to know the companies we bank, so once we start a banking relationship, we’re in it, and we find a way to be pragmatic and support com- panies for the long term. That takes thoughtful-
ness on the front end.”
Sullivan said New Valley has been actively
reaching out to small-business owners, who are often too busy running their business to seek help. “Larger companies have more resources and have banks calling on them all the time. There’s plenty of capital out there, and we want to make sure we connect with those business people, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Almost as one, bankers say there’s plenty of
“
looking to put that money to work as loans rather than having it sitting around in cash.
Deposits are way up, and all the community banks I know are
Good Business
Like Country Bank, Florence Bank has expanded its geographic footprint in recent years, into Hampden County, specifically, to serve — and expand on — commercial business it was already doing in the region.
It has been a successful transition, Day said, one that has turned into retail business growth
”
liquidity in the market, and once businesses began seeing some clarity with the pandemic — and, to be sure, there’s still plenty of uncertainty — they started moving into growth mode. But, again, the current labor situation is dampening some of that enthusiasm.
“I talk to a lot of business owners who are grateful the government bailed out businesses during the pandemic,” Sullivan said. “But there are some who would rather have a more normal- ized market where people are coming back to work.”
Meanwhile, “deposits are way up, and all the community banks I know are looking to put that money to work as loans rather than having it sit- ting around in cash. If anything, that’s become more exacerbated the last few weeks.”
as well. But right now, he sees plenty of opportu- nity on the commercial side.
“Our credit quality, frankly, has never been better. People who had jobs and operated busi- nesses during the pandemic have a lot of cash on hand. Hospitality businesses had to take time off because of the pandemic, but are now start- ing to get over it. Deferments helped people like that a great deal to come back online.”
The resulting liquidity in the system — and the resulting credit quality — mean delinquen- cies are at record lows, Day added. “Not only is business good, but the business we have is good business as well.” u
Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]
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