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Article: Putting a name with a face: community banks count on customer service: the advent of megabanks during the past decade or so has made many policymakers and industry pundits fear that smaller, community banks will soon go the way of the dinosaur. But community banks appear to be thriving by providing personalized services that meet their customers' unique needs.
- Article from:
- EconSouth
- Article date:
- June 22, 2005
- Author:
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Rumors of the death of community banks have been greatly exaggerated, to paraphrase Mark Twain. Community banks are alive and well in 2005 despite prognostications in the 1990s that the end was in sight. Back in 1996 when Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan was asked if he agreed with those who were predicting an end for community banks, he replied with candor that the predictors were "just plain wrong." Turns out, he was right.
Perhaps to the average retail bank consumer in a large city, a bank is a bank is a bank. But to bankers and policymakers, there are big differences among banks, and community banks fulfill an important need even today.
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