Banking's Great Leveler Is the Internet

New Mexico Business Journal,  May, 2001  by Susan Craig

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'Relationship banking' is another of banking's current watchwords. Jim Kruger, chief executive officer of Community Bank, says, "We like to try to build a relationship with business people; the more pieces of the customer's business picture we can provide, the better we can serve. In our markets, Santa Fe, Espanola and Los Alamos, we've seen an increase in business customers. Our new Internet banking is valuable to the client for its 24/7 access to account information and ability for funds transfer, wire transfers, stop payments and others, though one of the downsides is that we won't see our customers as frequently."

Pat Murray, Community Bank's executive vice president, cites its popular ACH function for direct deposit to corporate payroll. "A lot of smaller banks don't offer that," she says, "while we've been offering it, at no separate charge, for several years. We offer software that allows customers to format their data so it can go through the automated clearing house for direct deposits or direct debits. Businesses are finding it easier to perform these functions electronically."

A number of banks serve the market niche of small- to medium-sized businesses. Business and commercial customers make up 95 percent of the Albuquerque customer base of First Federal Bank. "The majority of our business is a result of accommodating our small- to medium commercial consumers," says vice president and business banking officer Mark Rudolph. "Thanks to technology, we can offer basically what the large banks offer. Our fees are competitive across the board with those of others. There are itemized costs involved under the general heading of account analysis, but there are also compensating balances for the customer to avoid incurring these costs. We sit down with prospective customers to analyze their existing accounts to make a comparison."

At Bank of Albuquerque, president Paul Sowards describes its approach as sitting down with the businessperson to determine how the business works, how its cash flow works and the scope of the challenges and needs for that business. "We look at the bank statements and balances kept and do a needs assessment, suggesting products and services to allow the business to earn more interest, collect money faster or others. It's all about maximizing return. For businesses with multiple locations, often in other states, we have a system where their money is moved from individual locations to a centralized account." The bank offers a full range of products and services including lock-box, credit card merchant services, check validation, cash vault and armored car services. In terms of dollar volume of business, approximately half of Bank of Albuquerque's customer base is business customers. "Our business philosophy," Sowards adds, "is to make technology work for our clients while providing a community bank kind of serv ice to the small and medium businesses that form our focus in New Mexico."