Business View Magazine | July 2022

119 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 7 really the strength of community banks, they don’t close their door on anybody. They really want to help small business owners that just want to pay their bills and be successful and grow their business. It’s great to have an organization, a bank, that will help get you through that. “In New York State, alone, there were so many community banks that were asked to help small businesses, and they reached out to those businesses that were already their customers but they did get an influx of business customers from some of the larger banks, as well. There are a lot of community banks that don’t have the sophisticated products that the bigger banks have, and their technology may not be as fancy, but the small business owners get taken care of. They get great treatment from the branch network – from customer service all the way up to the C-suite. “The biggest challenge in the community bank sector is just the uncertainty about what’s going to happen next. They had to spin on a dime to make sure that they were being flexible and taking care of their customers. These community banks did a great job when they couldn’t meet in person. When it comes to dealing with people’s money, with their livelihoods, paying bills, you need somebody you can trust. Somebody you know is really going to work with you. That is the big thing that community banks did and I think, going forward, there will be a model of doing both. Being flexible with serving people who don’t want to come into the branches, for whatever reason, as well as those who want in- person service. “When you look at the talent, community banks have some very long-term employees. People who have been there a number of years because they’re part of the community. So while it’s hard to acquire new talent, the people that many community banks had on staff have pretty much stayed. Absolutely, there are some gaps but there INDEPENDENT BANKERS ASSOC I AT ION OF NEW YORK STATE