Business View Magazine | Volume 8, Issue 12

65 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 8, ISSUE 12 C itizens Bank of Las Cruces first opened its doors in 1970 – in a historic building in Las Cruces, New Mexico, which was once the Amador Hotel. Today, more than five decades later, the bank has grown organically to seven full-service branches: five in Las Cruces, one in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico and one in El Paso, Texas. Recognized as one of the top 25 banks of its size in the U.S., Citizens Bank has remained committed to providing outstanding customer service and building strong relationships in the communities it serves. Jed Fanning, Citizens Bank President, shares, “We are proud to have been here 50 years. Our founders saw a real need in the community to have a local bank that made decisions locally. What we have found over all those years, and it’s still true today, is that local decision making is valued not just by our customers, but by our employees.” Following a relationship-banking model, Fanning says that the emphasis is on how the bank provides service, explaining, “It’s in the delivery. It is those connections that we make with our customers, and the conversations that we have, that are really at the core of how we do our business. Citizens Bank has four stakeholder groups; the employees, the customers, the shareholders, and the communities that the bank operates in. We feel that we have the privilege of doing this in our communities, and we have a responsibility to do what we can to make those communities better.” Celeste McGuire, Risk Management, Compliance & HR Officer, describes the customer demographic as “varied,” with many still preferring to do their banking in person, talking to familiar faces at their branch, while others would rather do the majority of their banking online. She reports, “Our effort over the last several years has been to make sure we are C itizens B a Proud to be local