ABA Banking Journal - November 2008 - (Page 40)

COVER STORY Quincy Adams. All these communities fall in South Shore Savings Bank’s market area. The shipbuilding and shoe manufacturing industries that once drove the Weymouth economy have long since departed, replaced by a mixture of technology, financial services, and retail. But one old-line business continues: granite quarrying. The area was once honeycombed with quarries, but in Weymouth only one remains, Bates Quarries, which Connelly has personally banked for three generations. Impact of the mortgage mess South Shore Savings’ profits are off this year, like many other banks, but despite having half its assets in residential mortgages, the few losses it has suffered to date have actually been in its commercial loan portfolio. Over the years, the bank has had to change how it competes in the residential mortgage business, which saw an influx of non-local competitors, but it did not alter its basic underwriting standards. “With adjustable rate loans, we underwrote them at the high end,” says Connelly, “rather than what the payment was going to be.” The customer had to have the capacity to repay the debt. The bank did not do subprime, no-doc, or “ninja” (no income, no job, no assets) loans. As a result, its delinquencies are virtually nil. This policy has kept the bank out of trouble, but led to a loss of market share. At one time it had about 35% of local residential lending. As the competition increased, that slipped to about 5-6%, says Connelly, which is part of what prompted he and Boucher to reevaluate the bank’s strategic focus. But the recent turmoil has brought a silver lining. “We lost a lot of customers to the unregulated mortgage brokers,” says Connelly, “but they are coming back to us, and we’re regaining market share.” That doesn’t mean South Shore Savings or 38 years, Arthur and Carole Connelly and their four children lived in a modest house a few blocks from South Shore Savings’ Columbian Square office in South Weymouth. “Despite the fact that I was out many nights at meetings and community activities, I had the benefit and privilege that a lot of people don’t have—to be home for dinner many nights,” says Connelly. After the kids went to bed, however, he would often go back to the office to catch up on paperwork. Being a people person often left paperwork backed up, he admits. The “kids” are grown now. Michael, the eldest, at 40, works in tech support for a stock transfer business and lives nearby, as does Kathleen, a second grade teacher in Weymouth, who is married to Mark Day. Daughter Erin is a physical therapist living in San Diego with her husband, Neill Saunders. Andrew, the youngest, at 25, lives in Columbus, Ohio, where he works as a Meet the Connelly clan F Carole and Arthur Connelly at their home in Plymouth, Mass., which overlooks Cape Cod Bay. The Connelly “kids” and spouses gather at the folks’ place. In the center are brothers Michael (in shorts) and Andrew. Their sister Kathleen is at left with her husband Mark, while Erin and her husband, Neill, are at right. financial analyst for the investment banking firm Keefe, Bruyette and Woods. Carole Connelly, whom her husband calls a world-class mom, left a job in the MIT registrar’s office to be at home and closely involved with her children’s lives, which turned out to be a 30-year job. “We had children twice as long as most people,” says Connelly. “For us that was great. It was back-to-school nights, baseball, soccer, and football, and a lot of kids in the backyard pool. We loved it. Now we enjoy seeing our adult children. They become your best friends as the cycles of life change.” In addition to being “Mom,” Carole is much like her spouse when it comes to helping in the community. She has quietly volunteered for 30 years at the local hospital, Arthur says. Lately she has been traveling with Arthur on many of his ABA trips. In fact, she handles the arrangements for many of them. “I struggle with details,” he says, “so we now jokingly call her my traveling secretary.” 40 NOVEMBER 2008/ABA BANKING JOURNAL Subscribe at www.ababj.com http://www.ababj.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of ABA Banking Journal - November 2008

ABA Banking Journal - November 2008 Contents Editor's Column Banking 2.0: Credit, Banking's Essence, Set for Rethinking Snapshot: The Few, the Proud, the Banks that Can Raise Capital Will Strong and Simple Banks Inherit the Business? Back to the Future ABA Resources ABA Chairman's Position Farm Lenders Must Take Care When Lending in Indian Country Pass the Aspirin Into the Breach Adventures Across A Century What the Future Holds, Post Crisis Paul Volcker: A Financial Legend Still Speaks Strong Ed Yingling: Weathering the Storm Dick Kovacevich: "Boring" Banking to Dynamic Financial Services Jim Culberson: Community Banking: What has Changed and What Shouldn't Walter Shipley: How a Chemical Reaction Helped to Mold Today's JPMorgan Chase William Isaac: Challenges and Opportunities Ahead for Banks A Hundred Years from Our Pages Eight Tech Innovations that Brought Banks into 21st Century Bank Cherokee: Third Generaton Marks 100th Year The First National Bank of Altavista: Railroad Gave Birth to a Town, a Hope Chest, and a Bank Rosedales Federal Savings and Loan Association: How a Friendly Game of Cards Turned into a 100-Year Mutual New Washington State Bank: Cooking Up the Next 100 Years Mailbox Banker's Mart To Advertise/Index of Advertisers The Economy

ABA Banking Journal - November 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.