Have you seen your banker for your annual checkup? - Bank Leumi Trust Company of New York meets with commercial customers annually to review entire banking needs - Managing Your Small Business - Brief Article

Nation's Business, May, 1996 by Roberta Maynard

Business owners typically think of their bank when they're facing immediate borrowing needs but not when they're making strategic business plans.

Realizing this, Ken Lipke, vice president at Bank Leumi Trust Company of New York, in New York City, began inviting his commercial customers to come in annually for a financial checkup.

At these meetings, Lipke and his clients review their entire banking relationship, including, for example, how well a loan or a line of credit has met the business's needs. Discussing a company's overall direction and financial strategy for the coming year alerts Lipke to clients' plans to lease equipment, to expand, or to enter new markets.

Often, he says, the process has helped his clients save money or put funds to better use by adding bank services they weren't aware of or by dropping those they no longer need.

"A business person tends to be crisis-oriented," says Lipke. "This forces them to sit back and think about the bfg picture. When they do that, things they haven't thought about often come up and can be addressed in a more strategic way."