March 3, 2008
Shop Talk
Like A Rollstone?
After 162 years in business, Fitchburg Savings Bank has changed its name to Rollstone Bank & Trust. The new name refers to a boulder that is a local landmark in the city. Currently, the bank has branches in Fitchburg, Leominster, Harvard and Townsend. Here, Martin F. Connors Jr, the bank's president, talks about the challenges of running - and naming - a bank in the age of the Internet.
We have currently 29 percent of our business in Fitchburg and 71 percent of our business outside of Fitchburg. More and more of our business is commercial business. Also, we are in the process of establishing a trust department for the bank and providing investment services. Commercial banking and investment services are not product offerings that are indicative of savings banks.
I think it's going to make it easier for us to expand outside Fitchburg. As we continue to go south and east that will certainly be easier with a generic name rather than a name that people perceive as a bank that only does business in Fitchburg.
Rollstone is a name that had a long tradition in Fitchburg. The history is that the Rollstone Boulder literally rolled here during the ice age. We feel it's a strong name. "Stone" is indicative of the strength of our products and "roll" is the fact that we're rolling out new products on an ongoing basis
It was a process. Naming a bank since the inception of interstate banking and the Internet is very difficult. If a bank has a name that you want out in California, you're out of luck. We liked Rollstone, but at the same time there were a lot of names that we thought would be pretty nice names and a lot of them were taken, quite frankly. So we went back to what was one of our original choices.
It's important to understand what a mutual charter means, and that is that we do not have shareholders. Our responsibility is to our depositors, to the community, to our employees, so we don't have the pressures of Wall Street to perform at a certain level. We have the pressures of our regulators to continue to be profitable if we want to continue to grow, and it becomes a matter of significance in your community.
There's nothing on the horizon. I think it's going to become more and more difficult for smaller banks to survive. It's a critical mass type business. We're heading for $500 million [in total assets] and that's probably where we think we need to be in order to accomplish the things that we want to do.
After 162 years in business, Fitchburg Savings Bank has changed its name to Rollstone Bank & Trust. The new name refers to a boulder that is a local landmark in the city. Currently, the bank has branches in Fitchburg, Leominster, Harvard and Townsend. Here, Martin F. Connors Jr, the bank's president, talks about the challenges of running - and naming - a bank in the age of the Internet.
Martin F. Connors Jr., President and CEO, Rollstone Bank & TrustFitchburg Savings Bank has been expanding into other communities for years. What made this the right time for a new name?
Martin F. Connors Jr., President and CEO, Rollstone Bank & Trust
We have currently 29 percent of our business in Fitchburg and 71 percent of our business outside of Fitchburg. More and more of our business is commercial business. Also, we are in the process of establishing a trust department for the bank and providing investment services. Commercial banking and investment services are not product offerings that are indicative of savings banks.
Will the new name pave the way for any additional changes?
I think it's going to make it easier for us to expand outside Fitchburg. As we continue to go south and east that will certainly be easier with a generic name rather than a name that people perceive as a bank that only does business in Fitchburg.
It must be unusual for a bank to be named after a giant boulder. Did a lot of market research go into the new name?
Rollstone is a name that had a long tradition in Fitchburg. The history is that the Rollstone Boulder literally rolled here during the ice age. We feel it's a strong name. "Stone" is indicative of the strength of our products and "roll" is the fact that we're rolling out new products on an ongoing basis
Did people sit around in a room and throw around ideas, or did it just come to someone?
It was a process. Naming a bank since the inception of interstate banking and the Internet is very difficult. If a bank has a name that you want out in California, you're out of luck. We liked Rollstone, but at the same time there were a lot of names that we thought would be pretty nice names and a lot of them were taken, quite frankly. So we went back to what was one of our original choices.
With so many banks merging today, do you get offers from national banks? Do you see some kind of merger as a possibility?
It's important to understand what a mutual charter means, and that is that we do not have shareholders. Our responsibility is to our depositors, to the community, to our employees, so we don't have the pressures of Wall Street to perform at a certain level. We have the pressures of our regulators to continue to be profitable if we want to continue to grow, and it becomes a matter of significance in your community.
So you don't foresee the possibility of a merger?
There's nothing on the horizon. I think it's going to become more and more difficult for smaller banks to survive. It's a critical mass type business. We're heading for $500 million [in total assets] and that's probably where we think we need to be in order to accomplish the things that we want to do.
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