In an uncertain banking atmosphere, Renasant Bank hopes to establish its stability in Columbus.
The Tupelo-based bank opened its first Lowndes County office Friday but saved its grand opening for Wednesday. Now Bill West, president of the Lowndes division and a native Columbus banking veteran, wants to put the 106-year-old bank”s experience in north Mississippi to work in Columbus.
“We”re very familiar with the general fabric of North Mississippi and what people like to have from a banking standpoint. We”re very strong and extremely well capitalized. What we hope to convey to the public is we”re here to serve,” said West.
Renasant”s Columbus branch was almost confined to lending out of a storefront location until a full-service location could be secured before the bank learned of the availability of the former Regions Bank location on Main Street, next to Cadence Bank.
“(The building) has a drive-up window, safe deposit boxes and allows us to come in with virtually all of our service products across the board,” said West. “It also allows us to come into the deposit side, which is going to be very important to us at this point.”
West estimates Renasant in Columbus already has 250 “relationships” and $1 million worth of deposits. He expects the bank will target small business owners for loans, but hopes to cultivate all business and personal banking.
To achieve the latter, West intentionally chose the majority of his seven employees from the Columbus area. He hopes familiar faces will foster additional confidence in an area still reeling from the pending sale of Cadence Bank.
West, who worked for Cadence when it was NBC, says the Cadence saga can be a learning experience.
“I think (the Cadence situation) has put the banking environment, particularly in the Golden Triangle, under a microscope. I think the consumer is probably doing a better job of due diligence regarding who they want to do their banking with and to what extent. And that may be a healthy thing,” said West. “None of us were anticipating the situation at Cadence would get to the point that it did.”
West doesn”t anticipate Renasant will catch a significant number of Cadence refugees. And even if some customers do choose to leave Cadence after its purchase, West says the situation serves as a reminder to diversify.
“Anyone who”s counseled people in the financial business will tell you there”s not a lot of good strategy in putting all your eggs in one basket. So (Renasant) may get a piece of someone”s business from another bank, but I”m not familiar that we”ve had any wholesale 100 percent moves from Cadence or Regions or Bankfirst or any others here,” he said.
Instead of picking up another bank”s pieces, West said Renasant hopes to marry the stability of its $4.6 billion in assets with innovative banking techniques to attract customers.
“The technology we have is pretty cutting edge. We”ve got (smart)phone banking now and we”re developing a process where you can take a picture of your check and it can be deposited into your account,” he said.
He says the move to Columbus after all these years is based on projected growth in the area due to an influx of industrial jobs.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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