Adirondack North Country Association
November/December 2011
Building Vibrant Rural Communities and Resilient Local Economies
$ $ $ Banking Locally T $ ANCA news
View of Lake Placid’s Main Street and beyond, as seen from the new conference center. Photo by Melissa Hart/ANCA
The importance of
he interest generated by the Occupy Wall Street movement nationwide has led to a renewed enthusiasm in keeping money in smaller banks whose operations are regionally based. We reached out to our ANCA network of contacts to ask the question:
“What are some reasons to bank with a local bank or credit union?”
ANCA Director Dale Brown is Assistant Vice President and Manager at NBT Bank in Speculator. He had this to say:
I have worked for a regional bank, one of the world’s largest banks, an extremely small independent bank and a local community bank, some of these all from the same desk due to mergers and acquisitions. There are a great many benefits to banking with a local institution to include: • Community bankers know their customers. They live with them, grew up with them, and went to school with them. There is a history developed that doesn’t have a price. • Local financial institutions reinvest in their communities. Their employees are involved in community activities and the banks support the activities with both donations of time and money. • Local institutions know their market and make lending decisions based on more than what’s in a financial statement. • They tend to provide monetary support to local projects. Out-of-state banks tend to spend more of their money where they are headquartered, and the further away you get from the headquarters the less you get. • Financial institutions headquartered in our region tend to buy more from local merchants or give their managers the authority to do so. Rather than a national or regional contract for things such as purchasing, cleaning, lawn care, snow plowing or maintenance they will encourage their managers to use local business people.
INSIDE: PROGRAM NEWS, 2-5
Here are some other comments:
“Adirondack Bank is very active in each of the communities that we serve, in several counties which include Oneida, Herkimer, Onondaga, Essex, Clinton and Franklin. On average, we have donated approximately 10 percent of our yearly earnings for the last several years back into those communities, sponsoring events held by organizations such as the YWCA, American Red Cross, Peacemaker Program, United Way, Make a Wish, Sitrin, Resource Center for Independent Living, Upstate Cerebral Palsy, American Heart Association, local arts organizations and many others.” — Gary Kavney, Adirondack Bank CEO and President “Champlain National Bank is one of very few remaining independently owned community banks. With more than 100 years of service, we take great pride in the communities we serve here in the North Country. With the financial issues that the country has faced over the past few years, we have heard from many people that the idea of dealing directly with a local, community bank has great appeal.” — Ed Finnerty, VP of Loan Production, Champlain National Bank
Arrow Financial Corporation is a multi-bank holding company (parent of Glens Falls National Bank and Saratoga National Bank) headquartered in Glens Falls, serving northeastern New York. Thomas L. Hoy, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Arrow, had this to say about Glens Falls National Bank President Thomas J. Murphy: “He has deep connections to the communities in Upstate New York served by the bank.”
FACES FROM THE REGION, 8-9
UPDATES, 10 -12