Few events in history have shaken consumers”™ collective faith in the financial industry like the 2008 economic crisis did.
Four years later, while many of the country”™s largest banks post record profits, consumers still are left scratching their heads over events such as a $5.8 billion cumulative trading loss by JPMorgan”™s infamous “London whale.”
For those banks that are still struggling to regain the trust of their customers and clients, M&T Bank”™s Paula Mandell says righting the ship will take a return to “good, old-fashioned banking.”
“It comes back to customer service ”“ whether it”™s working through difficult times or just dealing with day-to-day banking needs,” said Mandell, senior vice president and regional president of M&T”™s Tarrytown division, which serves Westchester and Rockland counties in addition to portions of Connecticut and New Jersey.
Mandell got her start in the financial industry as a teller for the former Bankers Trust Co., working her way up from the retail side of the company to the commercial banking team.
This August will mark 20 years for Mandell with M&T Bank, where she has served as Tarrytown regional president since 2000.
She attributes her success to a combination of hard work, being in the right places at the right times and knowing how to balance her employer”™s best interests with those of the bank”™s clients.
“I”™ve always maintained as one of my priorities that it”™s always important to have integrity and to do what”™s right for the bank as well as for our customers,” Mandell said.
While Mandell credits M&T Bank for having a robust training program for up-and-coming employees, she said many other banks have ramped down or abandoned their training programs altogether over the years ”“ an occurrence she said has negatively impacted the industry as a whole.
“We”™re very focused on developing our employees for the future of our bank,” Mandell said. “Everyone is given training opportunities because we truly believe that the industry has suffered somewhat.”
However, years ago, Mandell said, “A lot of banks ”“ mostly the big banks ”“ did away with their training programs. Effectively, what they did was they stopped developing people who were future bankers.”
For those seeking work in the financial industry, Mandell said it is important for them to work for an institution that provides some form of training or mentoring ”“ an area she said was “critically important” for her career.
With that strong foundation in internal development and the focus on customer service, Mandell said M&T Bank and its customers were largely able to weather the financial crisis.
“When the mortgage crisis hit, very early on when our banks saw it happening, we reacted very quickly,” she said.
With a hands-on approach, she said, M&T Bank employees addressed customers”™ concerns and ensured their cases were treated as “more than just a number within an institution.”
Mandell maintains that despite the negative press surrounding the banking industry, “there are still so many good community banks and regional banks out there that have always done the right thing and that were always focused on banking for their customers.”
One area that all banks could improve is in providing women with more leadership opportunities, Mandell said.
Manufacturers and Traders Trust Co., the parent company of M&T Bank, lists 45 officers, of which eight are women.
However, of the bank”™s 15 regional presidents, Mandell is the only woman, according to the bank”™s website.
“In 40 years, I”™ve seen the industry change for the better,” with women more evenly distributed among the retail and commercial banking sectors, “but it still tends to be a male-dominated industry.”
“At the end of the day, there are more men at the top of the house than there are women, and I would really like to see that solved,” Mandell said, speaking of the banking industry as a whole.
But, she said, “Within my experience, our customers ”“ whether they are men or women ”“ really want somebody competent and focused” above all.
