The Roxbury Highland Bank of Jamaica Plain is the smallest cooperative bank in Boston in terms of assets and is tied for second-smallest in Massachusetts.

Along Centre Street in Boston’s Jamaica Plain, in between two Bank of America branches and down the road from a cluster of other financial institutions, is The Roxbury Highland Bank of Jamaica Plain, Boston’s littlest retail bank.

Centre Street is pretty long, but the other banks are not so far away that the Roxbury Highland does not notice the increased pressure rising from the competitive nature of the banking industry, said Wayne Gove, the bank’s president.

But all that aside, the bank with $26 million in assets is still holding its own in today’s marketplace.

“My philosophy is we want to remain independent. That is the ideal situation,” said Gove.

However, being one of the area’s smallest banks and trying to thrive is not an easy challenge.

Gove said he would like to see his bank grow in terms of asset size, but admitted that it is a difficult time for all banks right now, regardless of their size.

“It’s been an effort to keep the deposits we have. Everybody is fighting to keep deposits,” he said.

Roxbury Highland operates out of a single branch: a free-standing brick building that resembles a house. The bank currently has nine employees but has plans to bring the workforce up to 11. Gove said the operation’s growth is going to be organic, slow and steady. Branch expansion is not even on the table and there are no plans to dive into Internet banking. However, he admitted that the bank needs to find ways to draw in new depositors and expand its service and product offerings.

Gove said he would like to see the bank venture into telephone banking. During normal business hours, customers can call for their balance and a teller will manually look it up. But compared to other remote banking options offered by competing financial institutions, the process is a bit dated.

Also on the table is the possibility of a drive-up ATM. The bank already has a drive-through teller line.

Adding an ATM would provide convenience, he said, noting that there will be a meeting held to fully evaluate that possibility later this month.

“We need to grow. We don’t want to lose that community feeling, but we need to grow,” he said.

Peter Conrad, executive vice president and treasurer of the Co-operative Central Bank in Boston, which is owned and operated by about 70 cooperative banks as a source of cash reserves and deposit insurance, said Roxbury Highland is tied for the second-smallest cooperative bank in Massachusetts in terms of assets, but comes in first in the city. Still, he stressed that small banks have the same regulatory burden and have to deal with the same economic environment as larger banks, often taxing banks with limited resources.

With a flattening yield curve and continually rising interest rates, it is a difficult time for banks in general, said Conrad, who added that the challenges are greatly magnified for the smaller banks. It is not a surprise, he said, that consolidation is taking place in the industry.

‘A True Reflection’
Mutual banks such as Roxbury Highland cannot be bought or sold. Merging with another bank, however, is an option under the mutual bank charter.

However, a merger does not seem a likely option for Roxbury Highland given its recent past. The bank was founded in 1889. It merged once in the 1940s, and tried again in the early part of this decade. However, the idea of merging proved not to be what the bank’s depositors wanted when they showed up in droves to vote against it.

“It was just so unusual. Nobody expected that,” said Gove.

Gove said the community feared the branch would close or the staff would change. Ultimately, the battle was over preserving the identity and feel that was truly a part of the community, he said.

The proof was in the numbers. On the night of the vote, more than 200 depositors showed up to keep their bank from falling into the merger trend. Gove said their message was clear and the choice ultimately was theirs. The possibility of a merger was taken off the table.

“I guess, in general, they felt comfortable here,” said Gove. “From the teller to the president, they can talk to anyone here.”

Last Wednesday afternoon, two women leaned into one bank teller’s station. They smiled and laughed as they chatted in Spanish. It didn’t appear to be an average business transaction. There was something else going on. It’s what the president calls “the personal touch.”

Conrad said the smallest of banks is still offering the biggest welcome to its customers. It goes beyond just business, he said.

“It’s part social. It’s part of the social fabric of the town,” said Conrad. “It’s amazing how well [the tellers] know their customers.”

“We know people as people,” said Stacey Supple, Roxbury Highland’s operations officer. “And [the staff] know everyone. They say ‘Hi. How are the grandkids?'”

According to Supple, half the workforce is fluent in Spanish. She said that is important for the community the bank serves. She said Jamaica Plain is a very diverse area, and the staff at the bank reflects that same diversity.

“We are a true reflection of the community we service,” said Supple.

Supple said the bank seems to have the real sense of what a community bank is all about. However, she and Gove both know it is time to bring more products and services to their customers in order to keep them satisfied and reach out to new audiences.

Supple said the area is seeing several condominium conversions, which likely will bring new residents to the area. Reaching out to them is a goal.

“What we need to do is let people know we are here as an option,” she said.

The bank has a six-month CD special that’s priced at 5.12 percent right now. It is possible that an 18-month CD may be added to its offerings. There is also the possibility the bank could add a tiered money-market account to its product lineup, as well as new mortgage products.

But as new products and services are added in hopes of raising deposits, the last thing the bank plans to do is lose its personal touch. Gove and Supple both said what they have in terms of customer service is what sets them apart from the competition.

“I think a lot of that has been lost in the industry Â… the one-on-one personal touch,” said Supple.