Harrowing economic conditions of an unprecedented credit crunch might appear to put a bank in a perilous position as a likely contender for the readers’ choice of Best Company to Do Business with in Sonoma County. And yet, it’s the very longevity of locally owned and managed Exchange Bank that plays no small part in retaining this title for the third consecutive year.
Exchange Bank’s co-founder and second president, Frank Doyle, envisioned the bank to weather the storms of time, giving of its own collective hours and considerable resources in what would become an unprecedented tradition of community involvement.
“Not merely headquartered here in Sonoma County, but an intrinsic part of the fabric of the community ever since there was a community to speak of, Exchange Bank has been, and continues to be, honored to play a very different role within the region than that of any other small, community bank,” says Executive Vice President Craig Van Selow.
Employing what Van Selow describes as “The Goldilocks Strategy” —not too big, not too small, just right—Exchange Bank is unique in that it maintains operations as a familiar, community bank with a powerful, added punch in its position as the largest and most powerful locally based banking institution in Sonoma County.
“It’s very much in vogue for banks to talk about community,” says Van Selow. “In fact, it’s something of a stretch for most large institutions to believe that simply by saying ‘community bank’ you can be one. Our experience is very different.” With 19 branches throughout Sonoma County and another two in Placer County (Rocklin and Roseville) a rock-solid, 119 years of mutual respect within the community provides Exchange Bank with generations of goodwill connecting it to the customers and businesses it serves. “We don’t have to invent a history,” says Van Selow.
“Exhange Bank’s people have played such an important part of the success of the company and the community as a whole. Our bankers know and work with the business leaders within our community. This community, in turn, has confidence in the institution as a place where we respect the legacy, ethics and core values of our founders and leaders.”
Exchange Bank has made it through more than a century of economic ups and downs, including that of the Great Depression. Part of the federal stimulus funding has subsequently enabled Exchange Bank to continue its role as a key lender in Sonoma County. This spring, the bank launched a new $75 million Sonoma County Loan Program lifeline to increase lending to local borrowers.
“Sonoma County is unique—it’s very special,” says Van Selow. “Being so closely involved with a community is something of a two-way street. We’ve been humbled and gratified by the way in which this community has stood by Exchange Bank.”
And the bank does everything possible to serve its community. Every year, hundreds of hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars are invested back into the communities served by Exchange Bank. Employees participate in helping countless community nonprofits and attending local and regional fundraising events. And the Doyle Trust (Exchange Bank’s majority shareholder) has proven to be one of the most remarkable planned gifts in the history of American community college education. Through stock dividends, more than $76 million has been awarded to over 115,000 students since 1948. Restoration of the dividends (which were temporarily suspended last fall, in light of residential construction loan losses) is bank management’s top priority.
“It seems that in difficult times people rise to the occasion. We have an important duty as a unique, community bank to continually earn the trust of our customers and companies with which we do business. By maintaining that trust, we’re able to continue to reinvest within our community,” says Van Selow. “We’re honored and delighted with the NorthBay biz readers award of Best Company to Do Business with in Sonoma County.”
www.exchangebank.com
