David Eidle
Senior vice president and Peabody C&I team leader, Rockland Trust Co.
Age: 61
Industry experience: 38 years
David Eidle is a relatively new face at Rockland Trust, but a familiar one on the North Shore. The former Massachusetts head of business banking at M&T Bank was recently hired away to lead Rockland Trust’s efforts to expand its commercial and industrial lending business north of Boston, an area it entered in 2021 with its acquisition of East Boston Savings Bank. At M&T, he led the bank from the 44th-biggest SBA lender in the state to the eight-biggest in one year. Prior to M&T he was chief operating officer at Everett Bank, a senior vice president at Berkshire Bank and chief administrative officer for the former Legacy Bank in Pittsfield.
Q: What are Rockland Trust’s ambitions for C&I lending on the North Shore?
A: These relationships are really sticky because you’re there for them when they want to grow, and when they’ve got a piece of equipment that’s failed them and they can’t keep up with orders. We’re right there to give them a new term loan for equipment. Those are the relationships that really stick with you.
It’s very profitable for us because not only do we get the loan, we get the deposits, we can offer them merchant services [like credit card processing]. It’s a very competitive market, but there are certain bankers out there that have been doing this their whole life and they’ve got those networks and those connections. That’s what I’m bringing to the table for Rockland to help grow in this market.
Q: Your banking career has spanned a lot of roles. What lessons are you bringing from that to this position?
A: The most important thing I’ve seen over my career is building a trusted network. The CPAs are the ones that you really need to have, and those are relationships that I’ve built my whole career. You’ve got to make sure that you’re doing right by their clients and show them love. Once you do that and you do it right, they send more [clients] your way.
You’re not going to win every deal. Don’t go after price either, because that’s transactional. If you’re dealing with customers that are just worried about another 25 basis points, They’re probably not who you want to have. You want people that are going to be loyal to you. They’re there because of you, what you’ve brought to the table. You know their family. You’ve been with them. You know when their kids have grown up, you know their birthdays. Those are the loyal customers that will stay with you for a long time and also be one of your most valuable referral sources.
Q: When you were at M&T Bank, you were credited with spearheading dramatic growth in its SBA lending volume in one year. How did you do that?
A: Well, I’ll give all the credit to M&T. It’s a very similar story here at Rockland. Banks are funny when it comes to SBA lending. Typically, these deals might be for a startup, or somebody’s in the restaurant business and they’re going to buy another restaurant, but there’s not a lot of collateral there – something we call an “air ball” – but with SBA support, where they’re going to guarantee 75 percent of the deal, it becomes attractive for a bank.
Some banks still shy away from it because of the nature of the deals you’re doing. M&T was not one of them and nor has Rockland Trust been. You need to have a dedicated SBA internal staff and a group that understands the product, that understands all the documentation that’s required to ensure that those guarantees are in force. M&T had that, and Rockland now has hired a great group as well.
Q: What will keep borrowers from getting debt-shy given the high cost of financing today? It’s already taken a huge toll on commercial real estate borrowing, for example.
A: It all depends on where they are in their cycle of growth in the business. The strong C&I customers, they’ll be able to [borrow] whatever the rate environment is or whatever the economy is. If there’s an opportunity for them, if they need to expand their inventory because they’ve got increased orders, whatever it is those strong C&I customers are going to be able to go out in any market and take advantage of those opportunities.
As advisors, that’s our job to work with them on that and constantly be in touch throughout the year. We don’t just talk to them at the end of the year when we need to get their financial statements updated and all that. We’re talking to them many times throughout the year to understand what’s going on with the business – any hiccups going on, etc. It’s that constant kind of advisory service that we provide, as well, that I think helps them in these times. I think that’s the value that we bring to them.
Real estate deals are transactional. That mortgage is going to end in five years, in seven years, in 10 years then it’s up for bid. Most likely, whoever is going to give them the best rate is going to win that. With C&I customers, their core business, their operating accounts – you’ve got them tied into merchant services. You’ve got them tried into treasury management. Think about your own checking account. Really hard to leave, right? They understand that we have to make money, but that we’re not gouging. They know that you’re going to do right by them.
Q: The most recent analysis from MassBenchmarks’ economists raised concerns that the state economy could be slowing. What might that mean for the overall C&I market?
A: I’ll leave that to our economists at the bank. But what I will tell you, just from my own experience going back to the financial meltdown in 2008 and COVID and the banking crisis last year – through all that, this state and in particular Eastern Massachusetts weathers the storm better than any market, I think, in the entire country.
Up here and in Essex County alone, we’ve got six universities and colleges. We’ve got major medical facilities – Mass. General, Lahey. We’ve got very affluent areas, we’ve got very diverse neighborhoods. It’s a very vibrant place up here in the North Shore, with connectivity up into areas of Maine and New Hampshire. It’s a unique area, quite frankly, and I think that’s why a lot of banks try to get into this market.
Eidle’s Five Favorite Things
- Favorite restaurant: Pellana Steakhouse in Peabody
- Favorite comfort food: a North Shore lobster roll
- Favorite local getaway: Plum Island
- Favorite vacation spot: Aruba
- Favorite accomplishment: Ran the New York Marathon in 4:07 in 1992
