By Bonnie Adams, Government Editor
Westborough – For the last century and a half, Marlborough Savings Bank (MSB) has been a steady presence in the local banking community. For the last decade, Rick Bennett has been the bank's president and chief executive officer. At the Nov. 1 Westborough Economic Development Committee (EDC), he shared some of his thoughts on how MSB has positioned itself as it navigates a still shaky economy.
As a mutual savings bank, MSB's stakeholders are their community depositors, he said. The bank's “decision-makers” were also local as opposed to some large national banks that have headquarters elsewhere.
In fact, he noted, MSB opened their new headquarters at 81 Granger Blvd. in downtown Marlborough last year.
“Marlborough has had its ups and downs,” he said, “but we wanted to stay in the downtown and support Main Street.”
Three years ago, the bank also opened a branch at 21 East Main St., Westborough.
Regulations and compliance is a “hot topic” he noted, which requires much of the bank management's time and resources, particularly regarding credit cards.
“Another challenge we have is technology,” he said. “In five years, there probably won's be debit cards anymore. Everything will be done with a smart phone.”
The bank prides itself on focusing on community relationships, he said. Attracting good talent and ensuring that clients could always have accessibility to senior managers were also critical.
In the 10 years since he became president, the bank has become involved in commercial lending.
Bennett said that although the economy has still not yet fully recovered, “We have never changed our criteria for approving commercial loans. We try to look at businesses holistically. We try to say “no, but…” If we have to say “no,” we try to give them some other recommendations.”
Most commercial loans the bank is involved with are in commercial real estate, he said. He noted that the majority of those loans were for rehabbing current buildings, as opposed to new building construction.
For more information about this meeting, go to communityadvocate.com/westborough.