Local banks: the more things change,
the more they stay the same
By Tom Martin
Chairman and CEO
Gwinnett Community Bank
for GwinnettForum.com

June 5, 2001 -- Gwinnett County certainly has changed considerably over the course of the past 20-25 years, and the banking business has been no different. That's my observation, from my 25 years of banking in Gwinnett.

Gwinnett, once a small farming community and retreat from the big city of Atlanta, has transformed into a bastion of growth and progress whose borders are scarcely distinguishable from its southern neighbors of Dekalb and Fulton counties. The pace of Gwinnett's growth has been fevered to the point to where weekly drives are necessary just to remain familiar with your surroundings. The same has been the case in the banking business in Gwinnett in recent years.

Bank mergers and acquisitions have occurred frequently enough as to require diligent study of the business section of the newspaper to keep up. Once upon a time, the banking business in Gwinnett consisted of one bank per town where everyone transacted their business.

The banks were small, relatively inconsequential, and typically escaped the notice of everyone but the small group of citizens who were its patrons. In more recent years, banks around Gwinnett have found it increasingly difficult to fly under the radar screen of larger financial institutions.

For all the growth and progress occurring in Gwinnett, there is an important dynamic at work that thankfully has not been altered by the convergence of big business on our county. The one idea that seems as if it is lost on larger banks is that people and community are important.

So many times a large bank moves in and performs a little housecleaning. It is "Out-with-the-old" and "In- with-the-new" approach. Personal service takes a back seat to cost management. The customer pays the price.

Procedures get streamlined and policies become cumbersome; employees are rendered powerless and customers must wait for decisions to be handed down from on high. In reality, our individual lives are increasingly busier, our time ever more valuable, and our need for friendly personal service at an ultimate premium.

At the several Gwinnett community banks, we all aim to operate on the people principal. Our organizations are successful because of the people who work within our banks, people who realize the importance in nurturing a relationship with the community by being involved in the day-to-day activity of Gwinnett.

We do not just make a living in Gwinnett, we live here; consequently, we have a vested interest in what goes on in this county.

At our bank, "Gwinnett" and "community" are important enough to our business as to be mentioned in our name. Without them, our name would simply be "Bank", and no different than any other organization found on one of thousands of rapidly increasing street corners throughout our county.

Bank mergers and acquisitions will continue, and frankly, they are a testament to the appeal and success of Gwinnett County. For as long as the county continues to grow, and as long as people demand personal service, community banking will be as safe as it has ever been.

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