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DATELINE: TAUNTON, MA…

Bristol County Savings Bank recently announced the appointment of Roger A. Cabral as a Vice President of Commercial Banking, based out of the bank’s Dartmouth and Fall River offices. Bristol County Savings Bank is a $1.1 billion mutual savings bank founded in 1846 and headquartered in Taunton, MA, with 10 offices in Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Cabral’s 27 years of banking experience will serve him well in his new position at Bristol County Savings Bank where he will be responsible for delivering financial services to commercial clients of the bank. A graduate of Southeastern Massachusetts University with a B.S. in Finance, Cabral received his MBA from the University of Rhode Island. Over the course of his extensive career in the banking field, Cabral ‘s previous employers have included BayBank, Citizens Bank, Compass Bank, and Sovereign Bank.

In addition, Cabral serves as Chairman of the Finance Committee for the Town of Acushnet, Director of the Fall River Community Housing Resource Board, Inc., and is a member of the Rotary Club of Fall River. He is also involved in many other community and professional activities.

Cabral is a life long resident of Southeastern Massachusetts and is currently a resident of Acushnet, MA.

Bristol County Savings Bank

Bristol County Savings Bank is a full service financial institution offering commercial lending, personal and business banking, and mortgage services. The key words at Bristol County Savings Bank are: “Commitment, Stability, and Community,” values that are combined with state-of-the-art technology to meet the needs of its customers. A dedicated local community bank for over 160 years, Bristol County Savings Bank is actively involved in giving back to all the communities it serves both through financial support and the volunteerism of its people.

Founded in 1846, Bristol County Savings has $1.1 billion in assets, with 244 employees in Southeastern MA and RI. The Bank has 10 full service banking offices located in: Taunton, MA (2); Raynham, MA (2); Rehoboth, MA; Attleboro, MA; North Attleborough, MA; Franklin, MA; Dartmouth, MA; and Pawtucket, RI; two loan production offices located in Taunton and Fall River, MA; and two Educational Branch Offices located at Taunton High School and Attleboro High School.

The Main Office and Corporate headquarters of Bristol County Savings Bank are located on Broadway in Taunton, MA. For additional information please call 508-824-6626, or visit www.bristolcountysavings.com.

Just a few years ago, bigger was better in the banking industry.  Big banks with scores of branches meant safety and stability – just like the Roman Empire.  But that empire has been tumbling down.  Large banks are on the edge of insolvency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is cracking down on the banking industry, making their enforcement actions public.

But are all banks the same? With the constant reporting of the unethical if not immoral behavior on Wall Street from the media, the banking industry, in general, has been getting a bad rap.  But ‘generalties’ have never faired man well.  The discerning individual, if he is to navigate the troubled economic waters of our present day must be able to filter out the good from the bad, have access to the rating systems of the banks and determine from his own research which bank will serve him the best – and moreover, who will be there when the deck of cards fall.  One has to know how to pervade through the “apparancy.”

Marc Gaspard, President of the Washington Financial League, told the Seattle Times that local community banks were just as appalled as the American people.  “Very few community banks made subprime-mortgage loans or invested in the subprime-mortgage-backed securities now being referred to as ‘toxic assets.’ “

Just as with any barrel of apples, a few bad apples can mess it up for the rest.  Community banks have been lumped in the banking crisis by the criminal and irresponsible actions of Wall Street.

The sleeping giant might just be the community banks, knighted by default with the responsibility of carrying the American banking system on their shoulders.  It appears today that community roots have more appeal than a decade ago.  In the rural region of Pasco County, Florida, one community bank withstood the scrutiny of BauerFinancial, a third-party rating system that reviews bank institutions’ 30-page report filed with government regulators each quarter.  No bank can fall off BauerFinancial’s radar, whether they’d like to or not.

BauerFinancial performs an independent analysis on the raw data supplemented with historical data in order to assign their ratings.  For several consecutive quarters, they rated First National Bank of Pasco as one of the safest banks in the nation.

FNB Pasco’s Board of Directors, veterans in the banking industry, apparently dug in their heels in regards to their financial strategies when Wall Street was living large.  “Conservative” was the prevailing theme.  According to them, sound financial principles are on the same order as natural laws, like gravity or inertia.  Bob Sumner, President of Florida Bancshares, Inc., said there’s no escaping these principles, evident in the Wall Street debacle.

Has anyone been listening or even paying attention to their community banks?  Even back in October of last year Newsweek reported Karen Tyson of the Independent Community Bankers of America stating that the majority of community banks were overall “sound, stable, well-capitalized and trustworthy.”

What can Americans do? It is not enough to merely believe the hype.  Look past the salted bank promotions containing slogans of trust, safety and security and actually get them to prove it.  Even though FDIC.gov is not a super user-friendly site, one can still learn their methods for rating banks if one searches enough.  There are helpful sites such as bauerfinancial.com that has a great FAQ page and bankrate.com that gives an easy way to do a cursory check on how one’s bank is doing.

Federal regulatory capital requirements vary among institutions and are dependent on many factors.  In general, institutions are required to maintain a tangible capital ratio of at least 4%, a tier 1 risk-based capital ratio of at least 4% and a total risk-based capital ratio of at least 8%. (bauerfinancial.com)

It is time for Americans to open up about their finances and find banks they can trust.  Three basic actions they can initially take are to:

Ask pointed questions about the safety of their institutions; Ask for their institution’s ratings; And most of all get them to prove it.  Get them to put in writing how they stand up to their federal regulatory requirements on a regular basis.

Today is the era of accountability.  No one is exempt.  As the saying goes, “put up or …”

Banking has changed in many ways through the centuries. The oldest forms of banking were often simple loans issued to businesses to purchase their goods. Once the goods were sold, the lender collected the money for the loan with interest. Today’s banks have diversified their services and products, with the goal of providing fast and efficient service. By putting a community’s surplus funds to work through deposits and investments, banks are able to assist individuals in purchasing cars and homes, start businesses, send children to college, and countless other advantages.

These activities conducted by the bank are divided into retail banking, business banking, corporate banking, private banking, and investment banking. While most banks operate as profit-making, private enterprises, some are owned by the government and considered non-profits. These banks might supervise commercial banks, oversee monetary policy, and act as a lender of last resort.

The definition for the various bank activities are defined below:

Retail Banking – deals directly with individuals and small businesses.

Business Banking – services which are provided to mid-market businesses

Corporate Banking – services designed for large business entities

Private Banking – offer services to private individuals possessing sizable assets

Investment Banking – relates to services on the financial markets (such as stocks and bonds)

Retail Banks Defined

The term commercial bank distinguishes it from an investment bank. Following the Great Depression, the U.S. Congress ordered banks to engage only in banking activities. Investment banks were confined to capital market activities, such as the stock and bond markets. As this separation is no longer mandatory, “commercial bank” indicates what people normally refer to as a bank. It can also refer to a financial institution that deals mostly with deposits and loans from large corporations.

Locally operated, community banks are generally created to empower employees to make decisions that serve the best interests of their clients and partners. Meanwhile, community development banks or CDBs are those designed to serve residents in low- to moderate-income areas, as well as spur economic growth. The retail bank products are designed for customers who are considered “financially underserved.” CDBs exist in cities around the country, from Chicago and New Orleans to New York City and Washington, D.C.

Postal savings banks were offered by post offices for those who did not have a safe and convenient method for saving money. The United States began this system in the early 1900s to encourage saving among the poor. It was abolished in 1966. In Japan, one of the nation’s leading bankers is the post office, which holds trillions of yen belonging to overly-conservative citizens.

Managing the assets of high net worth individuals, private banks originally defined banks that were not incorporated and owned by an individual or a general partner with limited partners. In this case, creditors could look at the entirety of the bank’s assets, as well as the assets of the proprietor/general partners. Private banks have a long tradition in Switzerland, however most have since been incorporated.

Located in a typically low-tax jurisdiction, or tax haven, offshore banks are located outside the country of residence of the depositor. Some depositors seek the services of these banks for their easy access to deposits, less restrictive legal regulation, and increased privacy for the depositor. It is believed that as much as half of the world’s capital flows through offshore centers. Swiss banks hold approximately 35 percent of the world’s private and institutional funds, while the Cayman Islands, in terms of deposits, represent the fifth largest global banking center.

Specializing in accepting savings deposits and making mortgage loans, the savings and loan association are often mutually held, meaning the depositors and borrowers are members with voting rights. These rights allow them to direct the goals of the organization. Many fondly recall the old savings and loan run by George Bailey in the 1946 film It’s a Wonderful Life.

Investment Banks Defined

Investment banks are concerned with helping companies and governments raise funds by issuing and selling securities in the capital markets. They also provide corporations advice on mergers and acquisitions, the trading of derivatives, commodity and equity securities, and underwrite stock and bond issues.

While merchant banks were traditionally banks that engaged in trade financing, today the term refers to banks which offer capital to firms in the form of shares rather than loans. While venture capital firms are concerned with immature, high-potential growth companies, merchant banks tend not to invest in new companies.

Retail and investment banking combined creates universal banks, also known as financial services companies, who engage in everything from commercial and retail lending to offshore banking to customers in other countries through its subsidiaries. Some big banks are diversified and engage in multiple activities, including bancassurance, or the sale of insurance products in a bank.