Independent Banker - July 2019 - 73

Trailblazer
Fidelity Bank's branches
grow green
Despite a stagnant population in northeast
Pennsylvania, Fidelity Deposit and Discount
Bank has seen major growth over the past
decade. It's down to how the community
bank has intertwined its brand with its branch
design, balancing value-driven relationship
banking and innovative features. By Eric Best
he saying at Fidelity Deposit and Discount
Bank is " Grow Green with Fidelity. " And the
$958 million-asset community bank in Dunmore,
Pa., is indeed growing greener and larger
by rethinking its approach to branch design and
relationship
banking.
Name: Fidelity Deposit
and Discount Bank
Assets: $958 million
Location: Dunmore, Pa.
The work
started in
2006 when Fidelity
Bank's
leadership decided
to make
a concerted effort to think boldly about tying its
brand and sustainability into its retail banking
experience. As it built out several new branches
over the years, Fidelity Bank has refined
its design prototype, adding new features and
shrinking each building's overall footprint to
take its customers' banking needs into account.
Bank leaders and architects from Pennsylvania
firm DxDempsey visited financial institutions
across the country, from Texas to South Carolina
and Florida, to research the latest trends
and assess what has been successful and what
to improve.
" We wanted to go to market in a way that differentiated
ourselves from our competitors, " says
Fidelity Bank president and CEO Dan J. Santaniello,
who has been with the nearly 117-year-old
community bank for 18 years. " We're not this old,
Quick stat
100%
recycled
polyester fabrics
were used
to make the
furniture inside
Fidelity Deposit
and Discount
Bank's new
branches
Source: DxDempsey
T
traditional bank that's just going to continue to do
banking the way it is. "
Many of the differences result in behind-thescenes
innovation. The new branches employ green
building practices, from silver, angled cool roofs
that reflect heat to efficient frosted-glass windows
that adjust lighting based on the position of the
sun. Even the paint is free of harmful chemicals.
The customer experience had a lick of paint,
too. Under Fidelity Bank's new model of service,
a staff person will greet the customer within two
steps of them entering the bank. Inside, a table
made from milled lumber provides a platform for
local businesses to showcase their work, a digital
customer celebration wall displays what's happening
in the community, and a hospitality bar
offers coffee and cookies baked that morning.
Person to person
You won't find many tellers at Fidelity Bank. " We
haven't hired tellers in a few years, " Santaniello
says. Instead, relationship bankers meet individual
customers at " check desks " or, if privacy is
needed, in offices that are built with glass curtain
walls that are less intimidating. Santaniello adds
that the bank tests potential hires for high intelligence
and extroverted personalities to better the
customer experience.
Fidelity Bank is also using technology to deepen
customers relationships. It can put greater
focus on high-value transactions by pushing customers
online. In the branch, the bank does this
with a technology bar featuring several mobile
and smart devices that customers can use to familiarize
themselves with Fidelity Bank's mobile
and digital offerings. With more customers making
basic transactions online, Santaniello says
the community bank can concentrate on financial
advising and helping customers with high-value
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Independent Banker - July 2019

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