How Community Financial Institutions are Powering Strong Communities
posted by Paul Waltz on Thursday, April 18, 2024 in SHAZAM Blog
April is always an exciting time for us here at SHAZAM. Each April, our community financial partners from across the country descend on Des Moines for the SHAZAM Forum. This marquee event is something I look forward to every year.
This year, our theme was Powering Strong Communities. It’s a principle our financial institutions live out every day. It’s also a fitting theme to capsulate the unwavering commitment from financial institutions in helping their accountholders achieve financial goals.
Community financial institutions are the center of their communities. When a town is thriving, it’s likely due to a strong, local financial institution in its city limits. It’s a statement I believe in wholeheartedly, because I’ve seen it my entire life.
Local reinvestment is what sets a community financial institution apart. Many are willing to go beyond the numbers and consider character, family history and discretionary spending when approving loans. That’s because community financial institutions are invested in the success of their local communities — just like their accountholders. They believe in their neighbors and want them to succeed. This investment spurs community growth and development.
A community financial institution's impact goes beyond the financial solutions they provide. They have a physical and emotional attachment to the places they call home. Whether sponsoring a little league team, hosting a blood drive or having a float in their town’s annual parade, financial institutions are involved in their communities.
Between keeping up with technology, mounting regulatory pressure, attracting deposits and stressing over the net interest margin, we know community financial institutions continue to face various challenges. At SHAZAM, we understand these challenges and are committed to helping overcome them. We take a fresh approach to payments though a high-performing debit card program, a core banking platform with a human connection, proven EFT processing for all transaction types and more. If financial institutions experience an issue, they can count on talking to a SHAZAM expert. We take pride in knowing our client support team delivers industry-leading, personalized service. More than 95 percent of all SHAZAM service calls are resolved in the same day. This allows our clients to get back to what’s most important, taking care of accountholders.
Serving community financial institutions is the principle on which our company was founded. It’s a partnership we don’t take for granted, and it’s rooted in our membership structure.
Every financial institution member has an equal voice in the work we do. Each member, no matter the size of the institution, gets a vote. The member-selected board of directors figures out our direction, our focus and how we’ll support our members. This gives us a high level of independence when setting priorities and deciding how we reinvest our profits to benefit clients through products and services.
As community banking month ends, I encourage financial institutions to share their stories within the community. It’s a story worth telling. To help do that, take advantage of resources available through respective state and national associations. Our blog, social media and SHAZAM power marketing tools are also available to share with accountholders.
As a trusted financial partner, we’ll be here to support financial institutions in building and sharing their stories well into the future.
About the Author
Paul’s involvement with SHAZAM began in 1999 when he joined the SHAZAM / ITS, Inc. board of directors. He participated on the board’s executive committee for 10 years and served as board chairman from 2009 to 2012. In 2014, Paul was named executive vice president and chief operating o
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