In an attempt to centralize services, lean into technological advancements, and ultimately reduce overhead, big banks have largely abandoned traditional relationship managers. It’s a strategy that’s left them extremely vulnerable to customer flight.

Meanwhile, banks that double down on relationship banking as a competitive advantage — like Firstrust Bank — are reaping the benefits. Firstrust actively partners with local businesses to support their growth, innovation, and financial stability. Such an approach, which blends strong relationships with best-in-class technology, has created a powerful formula for success — for both the bank and its customers.

A pair of Senior Vice Presidents at the bank, John McBride and Beth Packel, recently transitioned into new roles as leaders of the Business Banking Team, having earned the promotions from their exemplary approach to supporting both small and medium-sized businesses within the Greater Philadelphia region. McBride is Director of Business Banking, and Packel is the Small Business Team Lead. Both joined Firstrust in 2017, and combined, they possess more than a half-century of banking experience.

“From a visibility standpoint, our customers are in a fishbowl here, whereas they’d be in a vast ocean with many other banks,” said McBride. “Our lending efforts begin in our footprint. Most of the companies we deal with are privately owned companies, like Firstrust. We have the same level of pride in our business as our customers do in theirs.”

“No (lending) decisions here are going out of state,” said Packel. “They’re all made locally, either one floor up or one floor down.”

As big banks struggle with customer retention, Matt Hein, Executive Vice President and Chief Banking Officer at Firstrust, believes there’s an opportunity in this market to be different. Which is why the bank invests so many resources and dedicates so much time to developing strong relationships.

“Small businesses — businesses that are coming right out of the gate — are valuable customers,” he said. “Small businesses grow into emerging, middle-market companies, and building deep relationships with them early offers us the opportunity to grow with them.”

McBride points to the customers who’ve been with Firstrust for decades to illustrate Hein’s point.

“We anticipate long relationships with our customers,” he said. “We provide them with more than just a traditional loan product to help them. We give them the advisory services, the levels of support they need as they grow.”

Packel said that every one of Firstrust’s 500-plus employees keeps the customer as the focus of what they do.

“We have a unique culture,” she said. “I’ve never worked at an institution where so many people are so helpful, so willing to put aside what they’re doing to help. At the end of the day, regardless of the size of a business, they want to be able to pick up the phone and call somebody and not wait in a queue for a callback. From a customer service standpoint, everything we do is in-house. Every business client has a point person — a quarterback with a cell phone, so to speak — who’s available at all times.”

Building strong relationships with customers enables Firstrust to serve them in the most effective way possible and helps the bank create financial solutions — whether its industry-specific expertise and guidance, treasury management, digital tools, or a comprehensive suite of products — that lead to the improvement and success of their businesses.

Ultimately, Firstrust’s focus is partnering with businesses and offering tailored support to help drive them forward.

“We’re entrepreneurs ourselves, so we know what it takes,” Hein said. “We bring world-class execution and capability and sophistication. We promoted John and Beth because they’ve both been tenured, successful relationship managers. They’ve demonstrated to our team every day how to do it, and they’re now going to continue to develop a team of bankers to do the same thing.”

Learn more about how Firstrust Bank is helping people and businesses achieve success in the very region it calls home.