Paint Brush - 10-31-08
To
Our Clients and
Shareholders:
PLEASE
DO NOT PAINT US WITH THE SAME BRUSH
For
the last 25 years, I have been extremely proud to call myself a
banker and just as pleased with the service we provide as a community
bank serving the banking needs of our community. Ah yes, the
operative words “community banker” - not to be
confused with the
general term of banker - because we are different. The recent
meltdown of the financial service industry has made the term banker
about as popular as the tax collector. I resent being thrown into
the same category as the “bankers” who ran AIG,
Lehman, IndyMac,
WaMu, Wachovia, and so on. We are community bankers serving the
financial needs of our community.
Let
me take a moment to explain the difference between being a “BIG
BANKER” and a “COMMUNITY
BANKER”.
Big
bankers are highly sophisticated and make international
investments. Big Bankers have their names prominently displayed on
billboards and in sports arenas around the world. Big bankers
create, sell, and purchase large pools of investments that they never
actually see to investors they have never met and in countries where
they have never been. Big Bankers are forced to drive their profits
to be able to report to Wall Street so that investors will buy more
of their stock. And Big Bankers become “too big to
fail”. Ooops, I guess we can no longer say that.
All
the while your Community Banker, who lives and works in the local
community, continues to be the safe repository for your hard earned
dollars and invest those dollars back into the communities where we
work and live. Community Bankers invest in their local communities
where they know the borrower and actually see the property that is
security for the loan. Community Bankers use tried and true analysis
before making a loan, such as “demonstrated the ability to
repay
the loan” and “does the borrower have their own
equity in the
loan”? Your Community Bank is truly the economic engine for
your
community.
As
part of our commitment to be completely transparent to you - our
customers and owners - we will be hosting a series of Town Hall
Meetings in each of our branches. A member of the United Labor Bank
Executive Team will be present to share with you our strength and
business practice. And, since we do not have to pay for sports arena
signs, we will be providing brown bag lunches at these meetings. Your
Branch Manager will soon have the dates and locations in your
area.
We
hope to see your there.
Malcolm
Hotchkiss
President
and
Chief Executive Officer
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