On the Balance Sheet® S1 E10 - BJ Goetz, Middletown Valley Bank (MD)
[Vinny, 0:00]:
Episode 10 of On the Balance Sheet. I'm Vinny Clevenger, as always joined by Zach Soya. And Zach, really interesting story today – the story of a rural bank, if you will, that's grown over the past decade pretty significantly, has raised capital, and done a lot of interesting things. And we have their Chief Executive Officer. Today's guest will be BJ Goetz from Middletown Valley Bank.
[Zach, 0:29]:
Yeah, I'm very, very excited that BJ is on the program with us. He's a client of mine. Him and his team, and he's a great guy. It's a great story. I think the listeners will be very entertained and into, you know, kind of listening to his journey.
[Vinny, 0:40]:
Without further ado, here's BJ Goetz.
[Zach, 0:45]:
We are very pleased today to be joined by BJ Goetz, President and CEO of Middletown Valley Bank, Middletown, MD. BJ, how are you doing this morning?
[BJ Goetz, 0:54]:
Good, Zach, how are you?
[Zach, 0:56]:
Doing terrific. And I'm joined with my colleague, Vin Clevenger, as usual. And BJ, we really just wanted to start out with, you know, we know obviously you've been at Middletown for about 10 years now. Can you give us a bit of a story or the journey from when you kind of got into banking, how you got into banking, until you got to Middletown? And then we definitely want to spend some time about the path that you've had at Middletown the last 10 years. You know, that's really a pretty remarkable story.
[BJ Goetz, 1:19]:
Sure, Zach. And you know, it's really kind of an interesting story as to how I got into banking. Actually, when I was very young, I was probably about 10 years old. My dad started a maintenance and janitorial service, and he was very entrepreneurial and started a bunch of different businesses. When I was 18, I took responsibility for three different banks, actually, that we had all of the cleaning service for and all of the maintenance service for. And I was responsible for making sure that the branches were all clean, good, making sure everything went well, did maintenance, changing light bulbs, doing all that kind of stuff. And I was going to college at the time, really my first exposure to what I would call kind of the white-collar, the professional world. And there was a gentleman there that was actually the Chief Operating Officer of Farmers and Merchants Bank and Trust, which eventually became Susquehanna Bank. He asked me to go to lunch, asked me to be a summer teller during the summers in college. And while I was in college, and then, you know, I graduated College in 1999, and you had – now the Dow had just crested 10,000 and the dot-com bomb was going crazy. And, you know, I was planning on going to be a stockbroker and I was going into the finance world in that nature. And, you know, this gentleman came to me and said, "Hey, why don't you come talk to me? We've got this branch job. We'd like to start up a manager training program, and you'd be perfect for it." And, you know, I kind of looked at it and said, "Here's this nice conservative steady paycheck, or here's a, you know, high commission or, you know, very, very high ability to make some income in the investment world." But I knew I'd be put in a room with a list of names and a phone number, and it would either be a feast or famine situation. So I tend to be kind of a conservative guy and, you know, took the steady paycheck and became the first, only, and last manager trainee at Farmers and Merchants Bank and Trust. I think they created the program for me, and then it just kind of never went any further. Farmers and merchants was an affiliate under Susquehanna Bank. And Susquehanna Bank shares, if you remember them, at the time – this was in the late 1990s, early 2000s – they had about eight different division chartered banks under the Susquehanna Bank shares, and before they started consolidating things down. I spent about a year and a half on the retail side, then moved into commercial banking and expanded there on the commercial banking side, actually became responsible for commercial banking kind of in the along the I-81 corridor for southern Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia in my time there. And then spent about 16 years at Susquehanna before joining Middletown Valley Bank in 2000. Well, incidentally, Zach, the gentleman that was the chief operating of Farmers and Merchants eventually became president of Farmers and Merchants. Then ultimately, when Susquehanna Bank shares started consolidating down, he became president and CEO of Susquehanna Bank. He retired in 2011 from Susquehanna Bank. And that gentleman joined Middletown Valley Bank's Board in 2013. Became our chairman in 2016, and you know him as Jim Carney was actually who recruited me into banking, and I enjoyed working for him for so long that I decided to hire him and make him be my boss again.
[Zach, 4:47]:
You know, I knew that Jim was at Susquehanna, but I actually didn't know the connection with you guys back, you know, 20-30 years ago, you know, with that, so that's a tremendous story and a tremendous connection and obviously, obviously a very great relationship too. So I think one of the things BJ, you know that struck me in, in, in some of your introductory remarks there is talking about the management training program. Really quickly before we segway back to Middletown Valley cause we had a gentleman on our podcast a few episodes ago who was part of Fleet's program back in the 90s, and we were just talking with him about how you don't really see him anymore, right? And do you think that's one of those things that will get resurrected for developing young bankers? Do you have any thoughts on how that might play a role going forward? Or do you guys do anything around that at Middletown?
[BJ Goetz, 5:36]:
So, so we do have a couple of different programs that we try to run through here at Middletown. We try to partner people's desires, their skill sets, and their long-term capabilities with different paths. You know, one of the great things I see in the banking industry, especially when you get into community banking, is you know we have frontline salespeople. We have operational people. We have data junkies. We have people that are interested in how law and legal works. You know, we need people that have a high acumen on how to read and prepare financial statements. And you know, so there's a lot of different paths that people can go. The industry is one that you know can really mirror those desires of a young person looking for a career with opportunity and with initiative and you can win on that. You know when you go back and you look at those management training programs of the 80s and 90s, do I see those coming back in the traditional sense that they were then? I don't think so. And the reason that I don't think so is because they typically would be either retail-focused and retail-driven, or they would be commercial-focused and commercial-driven, or they would be a hybrid. And, you know, with the branch environment the way that it is today, becoming more technology-based necessarily than the brick and mortar tradition, I think it becomes harder to create those management training pathways in those traditional senses. But I think they take on a different flavor, a different path, a different tact. And it becomes less on how to manage a branch or manage a retail site or how to, you know, manage a commercial relationship and becomes more of how do you lead people to the end. Technology, data, analytic capabilities, and all of those things have really kind of changed where that aspect goes in my opinion, Zach. So I think we have to find different ways to do it. Same concept, very different formats.
[Zach, 7:45]:
Yeah, we have to adapt. It's a little different banking world now than it was, you know, 25-30-40 years ago, I suppose.
[BJ Goetz, 7:52]:
Right, right, right. We're no longer a bank. We're a technology company that handles people's money.
[Zach, 7:58]:
No, that's a good - that's a great way to put it. Great way to put it. So I've kind of teased this a bit the first couple of minutes here. So one of the most - I think things that the listeners will really want to hear, BJ - is kind of the remarkable or in great success story you guys have had right since 2012 going from, you know, but what, a $150 million institution up to 900 today, pushing a billion probably, you know, pretty soon. Can you just walk us through kind of that journey, that 10-year process, with when you took over? And kind of some of the successes, the challenges, all that along the way.
[BJ Goetz, 8:30]:
Yeah, you know, I joined Middletown Valley Bank in 2012. It was actually September of 2012, and I walked into a bank that was one hundred forty-five million dollars in assets. We had a 46% loan-to-deposit ratio and a 13 basis point cost of funds and a 17% tier one capital ratio. And I was a frontline guy. I had a strong credit background. But, you know, you took basically a commercial banker with a lot of cash, lends, really good funding source to lend it with, and we set about trying to create and grow a bank. And you know, with the exception of a small residential mortgage acquisition that we did really to get the infrastructure in 2019, it's been one customer at a time, one team member at a time, and focusing on what the right things are. I mean, you know, we really, it's the basics of focusing on the people and focusing on the relationship. When I started, the other piece within the balance sheet, Zach, I mean we had an over 7% thirty-day delinquency on a $58 million loan portfolio that was 97% long-term fixed residential mortgages. So, you know, the first thing that we knew we had to do is we needed to change not only the asset mix but the concentration balances within the loan portfolio itself. So, we set about working with individual customers and building out the team, creating loan types, creating deposit types, and building the infrastructure from scratch. You know, the company had really been just the quintessential small community bank for 108 years when I got here. And you know, if it happened outside of a quarter-mile radius of Middletown, MD, which is a very small suburban community to Frederick, it really didn't exist and didn't happen. So we knew we had to broaden our sights. We had to broaden our capabilities, and we had to build the infrastructure to be able to take care of the customer. At the same time, focusing on moving into the loan portfolio, moving out of the investment portfolio, and if you remember at the time in 2012, investment portfolio rates were not the greatest. And then start to do the asset mix change. And once we started building the balance sheet and building the loan portfolio side, when we turned to start growing core deposits with it, commercially driven and commercially focused. You know the challenge in a community bank is you can't compete with the Bank of America's technology capabilities to deal with the consumers of today. You really have to go to where the small businesses need the support and the help and where advisory services and relationship really matter. You asked about some challenges. I remember two challenges in the first three months that I was here at the bank - I came in September. The first was Hurricane Sandy went up the coast to New Jersey, where at Jack Henry Bank. And at the time, Jack Henry had their data center in Lyndhurst, New Jersey. That was wiped out. So, you know, we didn't have access to accounts, we didn't have customer information. We were out of balance for about a week, and we spent that first weekend, you know, probably 20 to 23 hours a day just trying to figure out where balances were, where transactions were, and getting reconciliations done and coming up and coming across on that. The other challenge that we had that first three months was, at a 46% loan-to-deposit ratio, we had about 52% of our investment portfolio was what was on our balance sheet, and my predecessor had driven that investment portfolio to about 97% callable securities. So in my first three months, I had my entire investment portfolio, which was 50% of the balance sheet, repriced from 2.5 to 1 with no loans and, you know, run off. So, we faced a couple of headwinds from the balance sheet structure, we faced a hurricane going up the coast, and we had to build loans and do loans from scratch and find people that believed in us. Michael Hill, my Chief Risk Officer today, he was there with me at the time, and he and I were kind of a two-headed monster. And our goal from day one that I walked in the door was to make Middletown Valley Bank relevant to the communities. And we've spent the last 10 years growing from $145 million in assets to over $900 million, pushing that billion-dollar mark. And you know, I can tell you that our community depends on us. They count on us, and we've made that relevance. That was Michael's goal when I came on board here. Incidentally, we had 35 employees when I came on board; we have 185 today as well. So, you know, a community bank must give its time, energy, expertise, and dollars to the communities that it serves. A big way that we do that is we employ people, we volunteer heavily into the nonprofit world for our communities, and we give of ourselves to improve the economic conditions of the communities that we serve.
[Vinny, 14:01]:
Hey, BJ, this is Vinny Clevenger - thanks again for joining us. I think this is a tremendous story to see a bank at a rural bank really move from 140 to kissing a billion dollars. One of the things I was kind of thinking through and listening to you, it's almost like a brick-by-brick approach where I think you alluded to it as a customer-by-customer. You know, that's been the approach. And when you think of it in the brick-by-brick analogy, it's like you've got a really strong foundation because I look at the composition of your balance sheet, 38% in your deposit base as of some point this summer. So that may have changed. Is in non-interest-bearing deposits in a rural market, so help me understand the secret sauce there because, you know, Zach and I travel and our colleagues travel around the banks all over the country and to see that type of growth, I mean, you folks have your own, according to some of your financials, over 20% compounded in the last five-plus years or so. How do you keep that 38% non-interest-bearing deposit mix moving forward at that growth rate?
[BJ Goetz, 15:05]:
Yeah, it's a great question. So one of the things moving out of the rural Middletown market, we did move into a more metropolitan market - that's the first thing that we did. In 2015, we moved into the city of Hagerstown. So when you look at the map of Maryland, I think Frederick is the second largest city outside of Baltimore in the state of Maryland, which sits about 15 minutes to our east. We made the decision to go west, which is the largest city in Western Maryland - the Western 3 counties - but kind of a small to mid-sized city. We made the decision to move there because of the competitive nature. I mean, Frederick at the time, I think, had 18 banks operating in it, and the city of Hagerstown had 9 banks. We then went from there. The focus has really been on driving the technology base, driving the cash management and treasury management structures to really focus, take care of, and develop the relationship when essentially with the business community and small businesses. And you know I think statistically I think if you look at it, the average checking account for a consumer carries. About $1,500. The average checking account for a small business carries somewhere around $23,000, right? So, it becomes a game of numbers at that point. If you have the expertise, if you have the focus and you're accepted by that business community as an advisor, then they become loyalty as they come across. And we're full wallet share focus. We move from the commercial side into the business owners, into the employees, and we stabilize it and stagger it from there. So, that's really the secret sauce is having the capability and finding the abilities to drive those commercial-based non-interest-bearing deposits and knowing how to be the financial advisor to our customers. I mean, I tell business owners all the time: you need an accountant, you need an attorney, and you need a really good banker. You know, you go for tax advice from the accountant - they're going to bill you by the hour. I, by no means, am going to give you tax advice, but if I can give you the five questions to ask the accountant that reduces the time you spend with that accountant by a half an hour, I save you money and it's the same thing on the legal side. If I can give you those five questions, those guys bill by the hour - I don't, my service is free. So, if I can save you 1/2 hour in each of those, I'm saving you money and making new money. And so, we tend to get the phone calls before those guys, those guys do, so that their conversations there are focused and appropriate.
[Vinny, 17:54]:
No, that makes total sense and you know you could see the value that you're bringing there. I never thought of it in that context. You know that, and I had read some comments that you had made to that, in that regard, in a previous interview. I actually saw something else I thought was pretty interesting too - it said these were your remarks and said, "I believe that the business community wants to see its community bank invest in the town it operates," and that sounds, to me, like a perfect example of where you folks are really committed to that community and I think you're reaping the rewards of that type of relationship with your communities that you serve. I just think it's so impressive to do it profitably. You know, to me - and Zach and I get so caught up in looking at all these different metrics - but the reality is the proof's in the pudding, and I think you folks should be congratulated for that.
[BJ Goetz, 18:45]:
Well, and you know, I appreciate that. And I would tell you, you know, one of the things that has been important since day one is the team. You know, we had to change. We had to create a mindset within our team, the 35 people at the start and even now at 185 people, you know, you have to create the belief that you are the best, that you're going to do your best, and you're going to do it for the right reasons. You're going to do it so that you're focused on what moves your customer forward. I mean, we have something that is called the four questions: question #1 is, how does it impact the customer? Question #2, how does it impact the person serving the customer? Question #3, how does it impact the company? And question #4 is, how does it impact me? Human nature flips that and says, what's in it for me? But we spend culturally, we spend focusing on focus on the customer and the person serving the customer, and everything else will take care of itself. You'll get the rewards of what's in it for you. Then what we did is we added the thumb, which is how it begins before you can ask the four questions: you have to define the customer. And we've broken down the silos of operation versus frontline because my operational folks understand that their customer is the person in that branch or retail setting that is dealing with the situation, and they must serve that customer and they're the person serving the customer, so do what's right for the customer and so on and so on. So, you know, the customer I grew up as I mentioned earlier, I grew up in the maintenance and janitorial service. We even consider the people that come in and dump our trash at night as our customers - focus on them. Give them what we call the absolutely exceptional experience. And if you focus on giving that, you'll get it.
[Zach, 20:44]:
BJ, was that a big cultural change? You know, over the last 10 years and or was that something that you kind of learned from your early days and that kind of farmers in Susquehanna? Overall, some of those philosophies?
[BJ Goetz, 20:57]:
I mean, for me, I learned them really going all the way back to my dad and the different businesses that he had. You know, I mean, the fact of the matter is when you grow up in a small business, the one thing that you can count on is if you don't take care of the business and treat the customer right, you may not eat today. So, I learned that at that time, that you have to focus on giving of yourself and doing the best you can so that you can put food on the table. When I went to farmers and merchants, I will tell you, in Susquehanna, it was an organization that had those same cultures, those same values, and those same executions towards the customer. When I came here, it was a little bit of a different customer service philosophy to where, you know, banking has evolved. You know, we've opened branches in the last, you know, five to seven years. We've opened branches while many, many banks are closing branches. And I can tell you the first branch we opened in Hagerstown in 2015, within one year, that was a $100 million branch. By the end of year two, it was it was the largest branch that we had. Those branches used to be a necessary place that you go. Today you have to create them to be a destination - people have to want to go to your branch and see your people. And you know, when I came on board here, the philosophical view of the customer service was “the customer doesn't want to be very long, so get them in and get them out as quickly as possible” - don't have conversations with them, don't interact with them, don't know that their kids are going to the University of Philadelphia and studying in this and, you know, they just got their hair cut. So, we had to really train and teach people how to carry a general conversation and engage the customer in every day and then springboard it from there.
[Zach, 22:56]:
No, it's really important and I think things that some people probably don't always think about right or overlook. So I think that that was a tremendous answer, and BJ, now we're going to maybe pivot a little bit because I think for the listeners, they're probably thinking that with your growth, you still, you don't have 70% tier one capital anymore, right? So, you guys have been, you know, over the years, in the markets, can you walk us through or give us some stories maybe from your journey, because I know you guys did raise some capital this year in this turbulent 2022 environment.
[BJ Goetz, 23:28]:
Yeah, yeah.
[Zach, 23:29]:
Maybe you know, give us a little insight into how that approach was. You can even go as far back as taking Middletown to be a stock bank, and kind of, over the years, your experiences with taking those steps.
[BJ Goetz, 23:43]:
Yeah. First of all, you know, being a banker and coming through the retailing commercial side, I can tell you I was a novice in the financial institutions markets and that whole entire environment and just very quickly to touch on in 2015, 2016, that 17% tier one capital was gone. We had grown to about $300, $350 million bank. I decided I was going to raise capital and I was going to do it myself. So, you know, I spent about six months to raise somewhere around $8,000,000 across kitchen tables sitting and you know, just spending conversations within our local community to say, "invest in us and we will be the reward because we're going to be here." 2017 raised about another $4,000,000 in the same process and then raised $14 million with the help of an investment banking firm. We did, what I'll call, insta-viduals: you know, we had high net worth individuals that you know aren't necessarily institutional investors completely. But you know, they might manage a family fund or, you know, something like that that concentrates on the financial institution's world, and then within a short period of time of that, we did go OTC Pinks. So, we still operate today on the OTC Pinks, we are not a full-blown SEC registrant. But it started to create the opportunity for liquidity for my shareholders because, when I first came on board here, most of the stock had been handed down, generation by generation and as the further generations have gotten, we knew that we had to provide an avenue for liquidity in the stock for them. So that was part of what we did in 2017: we raised that 18 million, grew the bank to over 500 million, went back in 2019 to the sub-debt markets. We formed a holding company, went to the sub-debt markets, pushed it down, then we deployed that capital to carry us forward. To 2022 and we did what is called a Reg A SEC offering, so it's not a full-blown SEC. However, it did provide some significant benefits versus private placement or other opportunities within a holding company to raise stock where the market's turbulent? 100%. Did we raise capital to continue on the path that we're on? Absolutely. We closed it actually, at the beginning of October for about, I think 13-14 million at $21.00 a share which was within the range that we had put out in our book and. You know, now we're in the process of working to deploy that, you know, will we be able to continue, as I've told investors, will we be able to continue that above 20% compound annual growth rate going forward? The answer to that is no. Will we be in the high teens? Absolutely. But, you know, I think you had mentioned that. Five-year compound annual growth rate above 20%. If you go back and look. The five, five-year compound annual growth rate in the five years before that, our loans were over 30% in a compound annual growth rate. The challenge is, it’s simple math, Zach. I mean, the denominator keeps getting larger which pushes the percentage down, but it also you know we've done a good job of turning that into earnings and I think the investor world, our shareholders understand that, you know, we're creating a value in a balance sheet that has tremendous value. We're also driving growth in our tangible book growth in our earnings per share consistently, so we're focused on the right measures and the metrics. The markets will recognize that at some point, but they know that the value is being created in the underlying balance sheet and income statement.
[Vinny, 27:38]:
BJ, this is Vinny again and that, I really appreciate that. I think that's eye-opening and, of course, you folks have done a heck of a job. You know, like we're just kind of talking about growing your franchise and obviously creating value and creating excitement because people are clearly willing to continue to invest in your bank, so that's really important. One of the things that you talked about, or a lot of this conversation was kind of geared around, was your customer orientation. But I read through something in a recent press release that I have not seen more recently at other banks. This is more geared towards your orientation towards your own employees, I mean, it looks like in the middle of this year, you folks determined to give a broad-based 5% raise to all your employees because of higher inflation. You want to talk about that a little bit? I think that's pretty impressive and not something you read about, quite frankly, often.
[BJ Goetz, 28:29]:
You know, when you, you know, one of the metrics and one of the measures that a lot of banks are measured on and looking at is, you know, their non-interest expense to average assets, and then you can look at salaries and benefits to average assets. And we typically, consistently, and traditionally run below peer, and that's because we're, we're staffed functionally and efficiently and my people work hard. My team works hard, and they're dedicated to everything that we're doing and we're, they're dedicated to it for the right reason, but at the same time, we try to compensate in a variety of different ways. We sat and we were evaluating what is going on with wages, what is going on with the pressures from inflationary pressures, and we really looked at it and said, our people are loyal to us. And they work hard for us. We need to reward them. We need to help them. Because, you know, we're not necessarily feeling it economically right now, but these are turbulent times. I mean, you know when gas prices move in the direction that they moved, the trickle-down on that and you see the cost of bread at the grocery store compared to what it was prior to these inflationary pressures. And it goes beyond that. Medical healthcare costs are rising, everything is rising, and rising rapidly. So while we couldn't do and give it all, we felt it was appropriate to make that adjustment for our team and make sure that they knew it wasn't about me as the President and CEO. It's not about the board. It's certainly about the customer and I, you know, if I take my 4 questions and I put my thumb up, one of my major customers are those 184 and people that work with me every day. So you know, how do I not look out for those customers that are on the team and that's really kind of the thought process that was behind it. It cost us a little bit of money. But, you know, at the end of the day; the effort, the energy, and the way that our team works and works hard, they earn that back in no time. You know, you get out what you put in and. That's what I look at from it.
[Vinny, 30:56]:
Yeah, sure. And that, you know, might cost you more money, but it's clearly an investment in your people. You know, I really appreciate this conversation because I'm thinking back to our founder, George Darling, something he said a long time ago. He said, you know, you're really in the relationship is this. And when I hear your story of your bank, that just keeps ringing through my head because you have tremendous relationships with all your constituents and you can see how that's parlayed into your success, so I personally want to thank you for your time today. Zach, did you have anything else you want to go through?
[Zach, 31:27]:
BJ just one last thing for you and then we can let you go. Thanks so much for kind of dancing with us around, you know, different topics here. One other last thing I have is just, and it can be short or as long as you like, but what kind of excites you about the banking industry going forward here? And obviously, if anything is particular to Middletown too, we can weave that in. But you know, what are the things you really looking forward to here over the next decade? From taking Middletown into the next, you know, chapter.
[BJ Goetz, 31:51]:
Yeah, you know, that's a great question. And you're going to hear a consistent theme from me. You know Zach, what excites me is when I see a small business expand because we were able to help do that. It's always charged me to see, you know, a small business that can expand, hire people, create better job opportunities, create production, improve their economic condition. What excites me is to be able to see. You know, I've got a young gentleman that works with me by the name of Cody Hill. And I took Cody Hill to the Maryland Banking School three years ago, and I told him that if he came through Maryland Banking School graduating with honors, he would be the first Middletown Valley Bank employee to go to Stonier, and I would invest in him. And, you know, to see this 27-year-old young person just blossom into role and take responsibilities within Middletown Valley Bank that are high-level responsibilities and do it with confidence. Those are the things that excite me, Zach. You know, seeing people that see this great respected industry, and having them focus on making a difference for their community, that's what I see continuing for the industry as well As for Middletown Valley Bank. A quick story: I was chair of the Maryland Bankers Association during COVID. I actually took responsibility for the chair of the Maryland Bankers Association in June of 2020, so I watched 30,000 bankers in the state of Maryland - just in the state of Maryland - how they delivered the PPP, how the communities saw what the banking industry did and meant through those terrible, terrible times, and how our customers on the other side - the employers and the employees – understood and were so appreciative to hear the stories and be a part of the stories of the hours and hours of effort that, whether you were a large National Bank, a super regional bank, a smaller regional bank, or a community bank - you did what was right to see our communities come through those times. That's what the industry has always been to me, and that's what Middletown Valley Bank is. You know, I was never more proud to be a banker than in looking at those times and seeing what every community did across the country.
[Zach, 34:36]:
Now I think I think that's a tremendous way to kind of cap the interview, BJ. I think you said it perfectly well and we, you know, Ben and I really, really appreciate your time today talking with us and thanks again.
[BJ Goetz, 34:46]:
Absolutely, Zach. Guys, thank you very much and look forward to talking soon.
[Vinny, 34:52]:
Thanks, BJ.
[Zach, 34:56]:
We are back, here on the balance sheet, wrapping up episode 10. And then I thought, you know, BJ was great, some great anecdotes, some great stories. And as we always do with takeaways, one of the things that I thought stood out to me was kind of the comment about, "Let's make Middletown Valley Bank relevant to our communities." And I think, yeah, I get a lot of banks, of their maybe say things like this or believe they do things like this, but I know these guys do it right and I think it's the proof is in the pudding with their balance sheet, with their growth, with their relationships, and how they've been able to execute on that. You know, I thought that was a really strong takeaway from my perspective because they're doing it every single day and it was refreshing and really great to hear about you.
[Vinny, 35:35]:
And to that end, Zach, I mean this laser focus on, you know, the customer, the orientation of seems like everything they do, he went through some of those questions and that are really kind of the, it's kind of like they're guiding sort of principles on how they're going to manage every single relationship. You know, you hear so many folks talk about how important the customers are to them. But you know, at the end of the day, the proof is in the pudding, right? You look on the balance sheet and you can tell who's more successful at that than others are. And I think it's clear, you know, when you look at this bank's level of non-interest-bearing deposits or core deposits or deposits that are really, you know, the most valuable resource to the community bank, that they're up at that 38-40% level. And I think what's clear is they've been very successful and so that. You know that pathway of making sure that customer comes first and worrying about everything else thereafter, everything else will kind of fall into place. It's almost like the sports concept of, you know, play for the name on the front of the jersey, not the name on the back of the jersey. And ultimately, that's what's going to lead to success for the name on the back of the jersey if the team has success and that is so clear with this institution. So, that's my main takeaway: it was really enjoyable listening to BJ and hearing from our first bank in the state of Maryland, so really enjoyed this one, Zach. I think the listeners will as well. And for those listeners, thank you very much for listening to episode 10 and we look forward to talking to you next time.
[Outro, 37:14]:
On the Balance Sheet is a podcast produced by Darling Consulting Group, DCG. All views and opinions expressed by hosts and guests are solely their own and may not represent those of DCG. All third parties are independent entities and are not affiliated with DCG. This podcast is intended for informational and educational purposes only and is not considered as advice. All views and opinions expressed are based on the information available at the time, it may have changed on current market and other conditions. For more information about DCG; please visit www.darlingconsulting.com or email us at info@darlingconsulting.com. Today’s background music is provided by John Sib at Como Media and can be found on pixabay.com.
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