In 1871, Putnam County Savings Bank was in Alexander Lobdell”™s general store across from the railroad station in Brewster, with a customer base of mostly farmers and townsfolk.
Fast-forward 150 years and today”™s $1.8 billion PCSB has its corporate headquarters in Yorktown and 15 branches spread across Westchester, Dutchess, Putnam and Rockland counties. As part of the observances of the bank”™s sesquicentennial, Business Journal Senior Enterprise Editor Phil Hall spoke with Joseph D. Roberto, PCSB”™s chairman, president and CEO.
It isn”™t very common for an institution to be around for 150 years in any industry. What”™s been the secret of your success?
“I think the secret is that we are a community bank and we”™ve always stayed close to those roots as being a community bank. Our employees, our board members and our officers all live in the communities that we work in. I think that”™s important, because we have that strong connection to the communities ”” we know our customer base very well.”
In terms of serving your customer base, how did the bank come through the Covid-19 pandemic?
“When the pandemic hit, like any other bank or any other business, we had to decide how we were going to operate and fully be able to serve our customer base. We followed all the CDC guidance and the executive orders coming out of the governor”™s office and we ended up pretty much having 100% of our back-office staff being able to work remotely.
“Banks played an important role in supporting businesses and consumers through this pandemic, providing PPP funding and the loan deferrals that were required to keep businesses ”” especially small businesses ”” with their ability to continue to operate. It was a challenge ”” it was uncharted waters for everybody, but we figured it out.
“It was rather difficult for our branch staff to work remotely because they needed to be there to service the customers. And at the height of the pandemic, we had our lobbies closed. However, we operated through drive-up windows and people were able to make appointments to come inside.
“But as far as operationally, there was minimal disruption in our ability to provide the services for our customers. And now that we”™ve been coming out of the pandemic, we made the decision on June 1 to come back to full operations with a full staff on-site.
“And as a community bank, we”™re still at a size where we can make decisions rather quickly. We don”™t have a lot of red tape to go through.
“Today”™s banking industry has a lot more challenges than it had a few years ago, particularly with the rise of fintechs trying to eat away at the customer base.”
What is your bank doing to elbow away the competition?
“For deposit operations, we compete with the major money center banks with our online banking products and our cash management products for businesses, and we compete rather well.
“There”™s definitely strong competition with fintechs, mainly due to the technology advancements that they”™ve been able to provide, mostly on the lending side of the business. However, with fintechs on the lending side ”” the Rocket Mortgages of the world ”” that is tough to compete with.
“However, I think there”™s also an opportunity for banks like us to partner up with a fintech and use their platform. We are currently talking with a fintech company that has a small-business lending platform, mainly for loans that are about $150,000 and under. Their platform could process and turn around a small-business loan within hours. We”™re saying, ”˜Hey, let”™s partner up and maybe we can provide that ease of service and that technology to our customer base.”™”
Being in business 150 years, you”™re obviously doing something right. Are there areas, though, where the bank could stand to use some improvement?
“I think the key for a bank that”™s been around for 150 years is the fact that we provide excellent customer service. There is still a large part of our customer base that likes to come in, and I think we provide a friendly atmosphere ”” you don”™t get that with the fintechs.
“Improvement-wise is probably on the technology side of the business and making sure the Gen Z customers understand that we can support them through their phones without having to spend time in a bank. But I know that when it comes down to lending products, especially on a residential loan, those same Gen Zs would like to talk to somebody and, again, that makes us a little bit different than a fintech.”
What is the bank doing to celebrate its 150th anniversary?
“We”™re putting together a campaign to let our customer base know that we are still one of the few remaining community banks in the market. There are very few community banks left in our marketplace.
“There are some things that we do to continue to solidify our customer base, we are relocating our Mount Vernon office into the center of the business district, which I think further solidifies our commitment to the city. We also hired a chief diversity officer and director of community development, which is another way for us to say to the community that we support you and we want to be part of your community. We believe this addition to our senior staff reflects our commitment to diversity and inclusion as a core value of our company.”