Published Sunday, June 30, 2002
By Michael Roknick
Stephen Steinour finds himself on the move these days.
As the chairman and chief executive officer of Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania, Steinour has been roving through branches in the state getting acquainted with banking officers and the communities they serve.
Based in Providence, R.I., Citizens Financial Group Inc. bought 350 branches in Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey last December from Mellon Bank of Pittsburgh. Citizens Financial is owned by behemoth The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc which has assets of $487 billion, ranking it fifth in the world.
With branches in Hermitage, Grove City and Mercer along with a supermarket branch at Giant Eagle in Hermitage, Citizens starts out of the gate with a small market share of about 5 percent. But the bank has been able to create strong markets in New England states with no-fee checking accounts, which it also offers in Pennsylvania.
On a recent tour of Mercer County and northwestern Pennsylvania, Steinour said Citizens' priorities are clear.
"We've started with a fresh canvas and it's up to us to paint it,'' he said.
Just completing the conversion from Mellon's computer system, Citizens will be rolling out new deposit and investment products throughout the state in the upcoming months but declined to say what they would be.
One area the company already has racked up gains in is Small Business Administration loans. Under SBA loans the federal agency guarantees a portion of the bank loan, typically 80 percent.
"In any given month we're doing more SBA than Mellon did in a year in Pennsylvania with the same branches,'' Steinour said. He added Citizens will be reaching out to the business community to attract business.
Denny Reichard was hired by Citizens as vice president of business banking for the Shenango Valley, Greenville and Mercer. With a 30-year banking background which most recently included National City Bank, Reichard is the former president of the Shenango Valley Chamber of Commerce. He said it felt good to be back in banking again.
"We're a block-and-tackle bank,'' Reichard said. "We're as fundamental of a bank as you can get.''
He's found over the years that business owners are time-crunched and bankers have to get to the point quickly.
"You only get five minutes to introduce yourself to a prospect,'' he said. "You need to get the facts out pretty quickly and get them to listen.''
Staff training and touching bases with clients has occupied much of his time thus far. A Citizens' survey of business clients has found there's one key issue on their minds and it wasn't price.
"The No. 1 concern of the business client is to be able to borrow money,'' Reichard said. "Banks will run hot and cold in terms of available credit. Since Citizens isn't a publicly traded company it gives us more flexibility capacity to loan money.''
A quick change made by Citizens was to allow its Giant Eagle operation to accept business accounts. Also, the bank touts a quick turnaround time in giving a response to loan requests.
"We're not a typical bank,'' Reichard said.