ABA Banking Journal - September 2007 - (Page 20)

Community Banking matic example. Tom Leetch, president and CEO of Peoples Federal Savings Bank, Brighton, Mass., could be obtaining his 70 employees’ coverage from a state trade association deal. However, he’s found that Peoples can save money by putting the bank’s health coverage out for bid. In fact, the bank managed to obtain the same program from the same insurance carrier at a cheaper rate, a savings, most recently of close to $12,000 a year. Peter Blyberg, president and CEO of Ellsworth, Maine’s Union Trust Co., on the other hand, joined a Maine bankers self-insurance program and “that’s helped contain costs significantly. Where you really save money is on the administration, because that’s about 25% of your benefit costs and that’s really where the self-insured group can control things.” Cutting communication and tech costs One workaday item that the bankers have attacked with technology is the cost of telephone and internet service. Several bankers have been using, or have recently adopted, voice over internet protocol (VOIP) service. The three bankers that spoke about it said the level of quality was “excellent,” “good,” and “as good as standard service.” Peoples Federal recently signed up for the service and expects to save $1,200 a month, says Tom Leetch, adding that the system should pay for itself in four years. The bank’s vendor offers a back-up system, so that if the internet is down, it will still be able to use the phones. CommerceWest Bank, Irvine, Calif., has had voice over internet for about three years. “The neat part is the extra features you get with this equipment at no extra cost, such as videoconferencing service built right into the phone,” says Ivo Tjan, chairman and CEO. First Community Bank had some technical problems at the very beginning, says CEO Hoskins, but it got those ironed out. “We have nine branches and we have a great many conference calls, and with this system we can do that on a moment’s notice.” That capability is included in the VOIP service, he says, saving the bank about $1,000 a month over standard conferencing fees. Besides the direct savings seen through such steps as adoption of internet phones, bankers were also looking for less-quantifiable, but still genuine, savings in the form of staff time. Both Hoskins and Tjan, for instance, have gone with document handling systems and software that enable their banks to better handle agreements, memos, and other important “papers” that require collaboration. The systems coordinate so that nothing gets put through in a form it shouldn’t be. Hoskins’ bank, for instance, uses a sys- tem that allows officers to electronically sign off on documents. And Tjan says the system his bank uses allows employees in far-flung branches to collaborate much more effectively, and allows for faster, less timeconsuming turnaround. If a change is made by a subsequent reviewer, the electronic OK of anyone who has not seen the amendment automatically removes itself. Thus the file must go back to the missing player for approval. Automated brontosauruses? A common viewpoint on the panel, as expressed by Boston’s Tom Leetch, was that ATMs are “a dying dinosaur.” With debit card usage surging and mobile banking payments ramping up relatively quickly, the bankers question how much longer the need for cash machines will exist. But, like the real dinosaurs and their byproduct, oil, utility has a way of hanging on. Many of the bankers have been squeezing extra income out of their ATMs, some by design, some by serendipity. Mary Lenz, CEO of Slades Ferry Trust, says her bank found that 80% of its ATM transactions are by noncustomers, so it began putting in more machines offsite to take advantage of consumer’s thirst for convenience. “We’ve ABA BANKING JOURNAL ROUNDTABLE PARTICIPANTS Peter A. Blyberg, president and CEO, Union Trust Company, Ellsworth, Maine, $550 million-assets Larry J. Callais, president and CEO, M C Bank, Morgan City, Louisiana, $250 million-assets William C. Carr, president and CEO, Liberty National Bank, Kenton, Ohio, $170 million-assets Edward G. Gutzmann, vice-chairman (since retired), Mainstreet Bank, St. Paul, Minn., $380 million-assets W. Wesley Hoskins, president and CEO, First Community Bank, Corpus Christi, Texas $160 million-assets Thomas J. Leetch, president and CEO, Peoples Federal Savings, Brighton, Mass., $312 million-assets continued on page 22 20 SEPTEMBER 2007/ABA BANKING JOURNAL www.ababj.com/subscribe.html http://www.pfsb.com/index.html http://www.pfsb.com/index.html http://www.cwbk.com http://www.uniontrust.com/ https://www.sladesbank.com https://www.sladesbank.com http://www.uniontrust.com http://www.lnbbank.com http://www.mcbt.com/index.html http://www.uniontrust.com http://www.fcbot.com http://www.mcbt.com/index.html http://www.localbankers.com http://www.lnbbank.com http://www.pfsb.com/index.html http://www.localbankers.com http://www.pfsb.com/index.html http://www.ababj.com/subscribe.html

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of ABA Banking Journal - September 2007

Contents Editor's Column Briefing: Why Money Sense is a Top Priority Briefing: Sleight of Mind Briefing: Snapshot: What the First Half Tells Us About the Second Half Briefing: ABA Resources ABA Chairman’s Position Briefing: Get Away and Get Ahead: ABA's Banking Leaders Forum Community Banking: Trim the Fat: Winning the "Battle of the Buck" Community Banking: Pass the Aspirin Cover Story: Meeting the Challenge of the "Unbanked" Bank Marketing: Don't Miss the Boom! On the Job: Time to Power Up Your Presentations? Insurance Sales: The Art & Craft of Cross Selling Tech Topics: The Price is Right? Tech Topics: Security: Protect Information First Tech Topics: Hackers for Hire? You Bet'cha Tech Topics: Case in Point: Tellers Scan, Too, at First Federal Compliance Clinic: Adverse Action Clarified The Economy Banker’s Mart To Advertise/Index of Advertisers

ABA Banking Journal - September 2007

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