Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | June 26, 2023 | Worcester Business Journal 13 small U.S. banks in Washington D.C. "Community banks have demonstrated incredible resiliency," said Burke. Further, the widespread financial crisis those bank failures seemed to threaten did not pan out in an alarmist fashion. "It wasn't a systematic event that happened," said Martin Connors, president and CEO of Rollstone Bank & Trust, a mutual savings bank, based in Fitchburg. Despite that, conversations about banking and security of deposits became clouded. "ere was so much noise in the banking space," said Randal Webber, president of Cornerstone Bank, a Worcester community bank. To combat the negative buzz, a top concern for local banking executives across the board was ensuring their customers knew their money was safe. "e community bank industry and the value it brings has never been higher," said Ed Manzi, chairman and CEO of Fidelity Bank, a community bank in Leominster, citing easy Waiting game Aer the first half of 2023 rocked the banking world and as uncertainty clouds the economic future, Central Mass. bankers are staying the course BY ISABEL TEHAN WBJ Staff Writer W atching, waiting, reassuring, carrying on. at's what bankers across Central Massachusetts are doing in what is a volatile economic period aer headline-earning bank failures started the year. Banking executives are staying the course as best they can, while the Federal Reserve Board dictates much of what the next year will look like in the industry. e June 14 announcement of a pause of interest rate hikes from the Fed came with a caveat more were likely to come as the year progresses. How loans, lending, and deposits at Central Massachusetts banks will be impacted is still to be seen. e tumultuous start of the year in the banking industry nationally, with bank runs and failures, has shaken up the deposits local banks are seeing, despite the security offered at Massachusetts banks, which are both insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and protected by the Depositors Insurance Fund up to a minimum of $250,000. Community banks, though not immune to macroeconomic trends, did not experience the same level of issues as the likes of now failed and shuttered larger financial institutions like Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic Bank, and have remained strong, said Jenna Burke, executive vice president and general counsel for government relations & public policy at Independent Community Bankers of America, a national trade group for IMAGE | ADOBESTOCK.COM M I D Y E A R E C O N O M I C U P D AT E F O C U S Continued on next page Jenna Burke, execuitive vice president at ICBA Martin Connors, president and CEO of Rollstone Bank Fewer banks Nationally, the number of operating banking institutions fell 3% by the end of the first quarter. AllFDIC-insured Commercial Savings institutions banks institutions First quarter 2022 4,796 4,196 600 First quarter 2023 4,672 4,096 576 Source: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation 2023 "Statistics at a Glance"

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