Banking's Great Leveler Is the Internet

New Mexico Business Journal, May, 2001 by Susan Craig

Where the community is smaller, the pace slower and the customers well-known, banks don't necessarily need elaborate structures for their business customers, though a business customer in Carlsbad or Belen or Taos or Las Cruces can easily utilize the convenience of the Internet. Carlsbad National Bank, for example, has recently gone on the net to offer cash management services. Assistant vice president Jerrie Prentiss says this will allow the monitoring of accounts, with accounts over 100 items per processing cycle charged by account analysis.

The Bank of Belen is testing its new cash management service on the Internet for its customers in Belen, Los Lunas, Mountainair, Rio Communities and Albuquerque. Standard business services are on offer, like business checking accounts with a minimum $500 balance, $15 per month with unlimited check writing unless a fee-waived daily minimum balance of $1,000 or over is maintained. Chief financial officer Irene Chavez points out that multiple accounts with the bank are taken into consideration when a business applies for a loan.

At Sunrise Bank in Albuquerque, which has no branches and where the majority of the customer base is commercial, president Fred Brenson says that the bank has a standard balance vs. services program. "We look at our relationship with the customer, do an analysis to take that relationship into account while still making a profit."

New Mexico Bank & Trust is also geared toward business customers. "We listen to each customer individually to see what they need, then line up products and services to respond," says vice president Bob Eaton, Sr. "Business customers in New Mexico have available anything that any bank in the country offers. Our bank is a fairly new community bank but we can do sophisticated things for our customers at a reasonable cost because technology makes it possible. All cash management and other products are available." Eaton thinks that business customers are not interested in comparing on a price level but would rather focus on the customer/bank relationship.

For most New Mexico banks, technology is not the driver; rather, banks develop technology to meet their customers' needs. At First State Bank, commercial business forms the largest segment of the customer base. "The businesses are getting larger," says Fred Spuhler, senior vice president, corporate cash management. "Our technology has kept up with this. We're PC-based to make it simple for customers. We'll put customers' data on compact disks if they wish. We invested in lockbox equipment (bill transactions handled by the bank) and we're the only small bank to offer this. We're full-service as related to cash management functions. Technology provides banking on a 24-hour basis."

Does this hurt the bank/customer relationship? "Servicing New Mexico companies from Questa to Belen is our business," Spuhler says. "Banking is a service business. Technology takes away the need to talk about debits and credits only; when we and the customer talk, we're talking about how to improve our relationship and improve both our businesses."