Page 20 - BusinessWest September 18, 2023

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“This environment we’re in ... I’ve never experienced so much uncertainty as
to where we’re headed.”
MountainOne
sion was rebranded MountainOne Investments in 2013.
Today, MountainOne has some combination of bank branches,
ATMs, insurance offices, and investment offices in six communities, three on each end of the state: Quincy, Rockland, and Scituate on or near the South Shore, and North Adams, Pittsfield, and William- stown in the Berkshires.
When asked if there was future expansion under consideration in the Berkshires region — and, if so, where — Fraser said it’s possi- ble, but what is more likely is continued commitment to advancing internet banking capabilities that allow banks to serve customers more efficiently, with less reliance on brick-and-mortar facilities.
“The world is changing,” he explained. “You don’t need as much of a physical presence in a specific geography as you did before to manage and serve a business customer’s banking needs.”
Lauro agreed.
“If the client is in the surrounding area, we are wherever the cli- ent is,” he explained. “Wherever the client is, we are happy to be there, to work with them; that has been our opportunity, and it’s a big thing for us. If you’re a sophisticated business owner, you under- stand that you need a branch at the end of your street; you need a relationship manager, a loan officer who is going to be at your busi- ness when you need him, to speak with him, to work with him.”
And this is what MountainOne brings to the table, Fraser said, noting that, despite the ability to serve clients through the use of technology, commercial banking is a “personal relationship-oriented service,” said Fraser, noting that MountainOne boasts lending pro- fessionals like Lauro and Richard Kelly, also a senior vice president of Commercial Lending based in Pittsfield, who are focused on the region and its economic health and well-being.
“Our vision, at the end of the day, is to help ensure the economic vibrancy of the community,” he said. “And by doing that — by sup- porting local businesses and entrepreneurs — we’re helping to fulfill that mission.”
Economies of Scale
As he talked physical expansion — new branches — in other
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whether it’s running a bank or running your company; it’s incred- ibly challenging to feel confident about what the next few years are going to look like.”
For this issue and its focus on banking and financial services, BusinessWest talked with Fraser and Lauro about MountainOne and what can and should come next for this bank as its marks an important milestone.
Scaling the Heights
Team members at this institution are known as colloquially as ‘mountaineers.’
And on Sept. 19, all of the MountainOne offices will close at 1 p.m. so that the mountaineers can attend a celebration for all employees marking the bank’s 175th anniversary.
There will be much to celebrate, said Fraser, listing a rich past, and a potential-laden future, for the reasons cited earlier.
The institution can trace its roots to 1848 in North Adams, when it was known as Hoosac Bank. Fast-forwarding considerably, Fraser noted that, in 2000, Hoosac Bank and Williamstown Savings Bank came together to create the holding company to be called Moun- tainOne Financial, which became the mutual holding company for those two banks.
And in 2007, South Coastal Bank, headquartered on the South Shore, merged its holding company into MountainOne’s hold-
ing company, creating what Fraser, formerly president and CEO of South Coastal, believes is the first three-bank mutual holding company.
“We’ve seen a lot more of that now, but MountainOne was the first to actually do it,” he said, adding that, over time, the three banks have been merged into one entity under the Hoosac char- ter and rebranded as MountainOne. Additionally, Hoosac Bank had owned two insurance agencies, which were merged under the name MountainOne Insurance Agency, while the investment divi-
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