Bankers are genteel. They are polite – usually, unless they’re on their fourth Scotch on the green during a golf outing and they’ve just blown their swing. But that doesn’t count.
The problem is that with such politeness comes a lack of competitiveness. Bankers ought to want to go and steal all the bricks from the job site of whatever other bank is building a branch in their town. They ought to arch their eyebrows, growl and bare their canine teeth if they run into another banker at the Rotary Club.
Instead, they’re pleasant and collegial. And that would be fine if they were also plotting a nefarious scheme to bring about their competitor’s demise. But they’re not. They just run their banks as best they can, hoping more people choose them than the other guy.
Bankers (and you won’t hear this said in the Brown-Warren debates) are just too nice.
Community bankers in the commonwealth need to get a little more aggressive at winning. Because the number of community banks in the state has been dwindling every year for the past five years. Meanwhile, the market share of the big banks keeps growing. Community banks play. Big Banks play to win.
Taking Title
Maybe the idea, though, isn’t to follow the Overwhelming Force doctrine of the Behemoth Banks. Maybe it’s to emulate other companies managing to grow, stealthily and steadily, even against big odds.
Take, for example, CATIC. New England’s home-grown title insurer has done OK. The Rocky Hill, Conn.-based company has a decent market share in Massachusetts, and commands the field in Connecticut and Vermont. Nonetheless, it doesn’t have the deep pockets of the large national companies – yet it doesn’t want to lose big deals to them (sound familiar, community commercial banks?).
So CATIC formed a pact with five other, non-competing title companies. Underwritten by Lloyds of London, the new American Title Reinsurance Alliance will bolster CATIC’s ability to “insure large transactions while reducing our exposure to loss,” said Rich Patterson, its president. “In addition, it allows us to obtain reinsurance on very favorable terms. This will enable us to be more competitive for multi-million dollar transactions."
In essence, it’s syndicating out the big risk, so it doesn’t need to run away from big profits. Community banks participating in loans with other institutions will recognize this as a winning strategy.
Meanwhile, in Dedham, sits Steve Sousa, running the Massachusetts Board of Real Estate Appraisers. All appraisal organizations have taken it on the chin over the last few years. The advent of national appraisal management companies, the lessening of appraiser compensation and harrowing licensing requirements have throttled the inflow of anyone new to the profession. The housing collapse put big numbers of appraisers out of business, and thus out of the business of joining appraisal associations.
So Sousa is stroking his chin, going “hmm…” and launching a stealth takeover of the appraiser association business throughout southern New England.
He’s slowly creating the New England Board of Real Estate Appraisers, recently adding non-Massachusetts appraisal pros to his board of directors. All his continuing education offerings are certified not just in Massachusetts, but in Connecticut and Rhode Island, too. Sousa isn’t being bombastic about taking all the business from the Appraisal Institute’s local chapters. He’s just doing it.
On the HBO show “The Sopranos,” one of the characters once said, “Real mob guys don’t tell you they’re going to hurt you. They just walk up and do it.” Maybe community bankers ought to take note. And watch “The Godfather.” After all, Michael Corleone was a nice, polite guy, too.
