Exchange Bank’s commitment to the Sonoma County community and its focus on customer service has landed it the Readers Poll award for Best Business Bank multiple times. This year is no exception.
“I think that customers, in these uncertain times, appreciate the bank’s approach to business—its faithful commitment to service. I also think they recognize that the bank has very knowledgeable and experienced lenders who engage with our customers in a way that looks to understand each customers’ very unique needs,” says President/CEO Bill Schrader. “We listen first and try to understand those unique needs. We try to design a package that delivers services that help our customers be successful. We want to be part of that success.”
The bank focuses primarily on Sonoma County but will look for lending opportunities throughout the North Bay. All brink-and-mortar branches are in Sonoma County, with one lending office in Sacramento. Business services include loans, equipment leasing, checking plans, cash management, 24-hour online access, merchant services, business investment certificates of deposit and Visa credit cards.
The bank is recovering from the economic slump, but Schrader is cautiously optimistic at the signs of improvement. “There’s some stabilization in the marketplace. With that, we’re also seeing some sectors where there’s an improvement in loan demand,” he says.
Although always a business lender, Exchange Bank launched a small-business lending department 2.5 years ago and is pleased with its progress and growth. “We’ve added staff and positioned the bank to be able to respond to increased lending needs that will resurface inevitably in the business sector,” says Schrader. “It’s another option we can provide to our customers.”
Like many local businesses, Exchange Bank is invested in the wine industry, and Schrader is crossing his fingers for a good harvest this year. “We definitely have a presence with growers and wineries; we’ve worked with them during these last difficult three years. The last two years have been impacted and challenged by the unusual weather patterns,” he says. “So we’re hopeful Mother Nature is kind to our growers this year, because it looks as though demand has definitely improved for grapes.”
Manville Doyle and his son, Frank, founded Exchange Bank in 1890. Upon his death in 1948, Frank gifted his 51 percent interest in the bank to a perpetual trust. Dividends from the Doyle Trust for decades supported scholarships at Santa Rosa Junior College, and although suspended in 2009, Schrader is optimistic dividends will soon be restored.
