MetroWest495 Biz

MetroWest495 Biz | October 2014 25 WBJ VIDEO Services Well executed, targeted videos can drive traffic to your web site, convert visitors into customers, and improve search results – let us help you explore whether video can be a difference maker in your marketing mix this year! Here Are 5 Top Video Ideas That The WBJ Can Do For You: ›› Company Profiles: An overview and tour of your firm and its capabilities. ›› Commemorative Events: Celebrate an anniversary, award, accreditation, new facility, or other achievements. ›› Executive Interviews: Have your senior executives share valuable perspective and expertise. ›› Product and Service Overview: Describing your products and services and help new customers understand what makes you special. ›› Training: Using video modules to train your team on site or at another location. For more information call Associate Publisher, Mark Murray at 508-755-8004 (x227) or email mmurray@wbjournal.com We help you unleash the power of VIDEO! and the potential negative public percep- tion from people who might worry that an IPO is next make North Middlesex wary of taking that route. Instead, Dwyer said, the bank has been looking at the possibility of col- laborating with others in its position, finding ways to share IT and compli- ance services, for example. The other potential way to handle growing pressure is a merger between mutual banks, which would force one entity to give up its identity. "I think that's something we all talk about and think about, but that is very hard to do as far as representing the communities," he said. Dwyer recalls a mergers-and-acquisitions lawyer telling him, " 'Don't ever call me about a merger until you've figured out the five big questions: Who's going to be president and CEO? Who's chairman of the board? How to allocate board fees? What's the name of the company, and where's the corporate headquarters?' He said, 'If you can't figure those out, don't even bother.' " Answering those questions is hard, but not impossible, something that's clear from past mutual mergers. The two largest mutual banks in the region, Middlesex Savings Bank in Natick and Avidia Bank in Westborough, are both the product of mergers. Middlesex was created in the 1982 merger of Middlesex Institution for Savings and Natick Five Cents Savings Bank, and it later absorbed two more local banks. Avidia is the prod- uct of Westborough Savings Bank and Hudson Savings Bank's 2007 merger. Middlesex, which is far larger than the area's other mutual banks, has no real need to issue stock because it's already well capitalized, said Brian Lanigan, the bank's first executive vice president and chief operating officer. "We have enough resources," he said. "We just don't need any additional capi- tal to expand any of our banking." Lanigan said it helps that the bank has a large investment portfolio of securities, which it's slowly reinvesting in loans to customers. "We're able to really grow the rela- tionship side of our business by having that reserve of investment securities," he said. For Avidia, having twice the deposits of many community banks helps spread around the costs of compliance, Presi- dent Mark O'Connell said. O'Connell acknowledged that the bank's earnings aren't through the roof these days, but he said that's not such a big problem if there are no outside shareholders making demands. And he said the bank provides a different sort of value through its local philanthropy and reinvestment in the area. "If we went public in three years and sold out in 10 years, there wouldn't be a local bank anymore," he said. n Local customers are an asset for banks of all types. Avidia Bank customers are shown at Avidia's downtown Hudson branch. BANkS continued from page 17 s "All kinds of data (show) that when a bank converts to stock, it's more likely to disappear." - Kenneth F. Ehrlich, Nutter mcclennen & Fish Avidia President Mark O'Connell

• Cover