Printer-friendly format

John Arledge, Community Bank

More and more banks are searching for that special niche to attract customers.

Everything from toasters to free checking accounts are dangled in front of customers and splashed all over the newspapers, luring people to stash their money in their bank.

But one bank is doing something so unique that others will have a hard time keeping pace. In fact, it could be the start of a trend to customize banks per trade.

Insiders are referring to Community Bank's newest office as the West Lakeland Medical Office. However, it's not a clinic as the name seems to imply, but rather a full-service bank complete with three drive-through lanes and an ATM with one major target in mind: folks who work in the medical offices and hospitals located along the Lakeland Drive corridor.

Even though the exterior of the bank looks like a typical one, inside it's anything but ordinary. Officials worked hard to design a more airy, high-tech professional environment, complete with library and conference rooms for the medical community.

The library has leather sofas, wing back chairs and even a plasma TV to entertain and/or help physicians or other medical staff relax while they wait to take care of their business. A boardroom is available for meetings.

John Arledge, executive vice president of business development for Community Bank, said to his knowledge this is the first time a bank in this area was designed and geared specifically for the medical community.

"It's long overdue," Arledge said, who pointed out that, in addition to the physical structure of the office, "we're going to have some special loan packages available for members of medical community as well as a special checking account that will allow a nice rate of interest for the checking account holder. It will allow them to get automatic rebates on any banks' ATM charges incurred anywhere in the world. It will earn high interests, have no fees. It will make any ATM in the world free to them and we'll automatically rebate those ATM charges every month."

Arledge said the new branch is being staffed with bankers who have worked in the healthcare arena and know the specific needs of medical mangers and physicians.

"They need to have someone that understands their business," Arledge said. "We're putting people in this office that have that experience. That's the focus, but there are regular bank functions, too, of course. We've just built in special features to address the medical community. We're very proud of it and hope that it can serve that entire corridor."

Another high-tech offering Community Bank is providing to medical offices: MyDEPOSIT (cq). With a machine as small as a credit card machine attached to just about any computer in a medical office, medical office managers can scan checks and make automatic deposits instantly without ever having to leave their seat. All transactions are done via the Internet so no software is necessary and it's completely secure.

"Not a lot of banks are offering that right now," Arledge said. "It wouldn't be that great for cash businesses, but it's tailor made for medical offices. We talked to a lot of medical managers and one of the problems they have is being short staffed for the work load, losing staff members due to absence or just having to leave the office for a couple of hours a day to go to the bank to deposit checks. This is a great savings and is cost efficient in terms of staff time and doesn't require a lot of new software or computer system. It's small and we'll come install it on-site in about 30 minutes. The cost for the machine is $50 per month, which is very reasonable. One machine can handle multiple accounts."

Arledge said it was policy not to divulge information on rates for new practice or residency loans.

Numerous institutions called were unaware of the Community Bank's newest endeavor. But many of them said they had been contemplating doing something similar. They preferred not to divulge their names since they didn't offer any specific products for healthcare providers.


March 2007

Tags:

None