HUNTSVILLE – Huntsville is about to see a lot more of Bank Independent.
All around North Alabama, banks are buying, selling, acquiring, merging, and consolidating to become more competitive.
But not Bank Independent.
The third-generation family-owned community bank is expanding, growing, hiring, serving, and building their own banks from the ground up.
Some people may question whether growing during a time of so much economic and financial uncertainty is risky, especially when so many family-owned community banks are being swallowed up amid the ‘merger mania’ over the last decade.
But not Bank Independent.
According to bank President Macke Mauldin, the Sheffield-based institution was founded with a single purpose – to serve the community by providing a service to the customers.
And staying true to that foundational purpose, according to DeMarco McClain, Bank Independent’s Huntsville city president, is what some call the secret family sauce.
“There are always ups and downs in the economy, but as long as we stick to our core and stay true to who we are – that is, providing services to our customers, being available and there when they need us, and giving them the best possible service, we can provide,” said McClain. “We do that, and I think we will thrive in any economy.”
There must be something to it. Bank Independent has been around for 75 years and show no signs of slowing down; and Family Business Magazine noted that the family-owned banks that have survived the past decade, have done so by focusing on personalized service and relating to family business clients in their communities.
McClain brought a steep background in banking and finance with him when he joined BI eight years ago. He has lived and worked in banking and finance from Montgomery to Tuscaloosa to Birmingham and Florence, before landing in Huntsville in 2010 where he and his family call home.
He has undergraduate degrees in business and marketing with a master’s in finance.
He worked his way through school at a credit union and started his career at Wells Fargo. He later moved to Regions Bank as a commercial loan underwriter before moving to Bank Independent.
“It was one of the most educational things I ever did because it taught me what a good loan looks like and what a bad loan looks like,” McClain said. “I learned how to analyze the loan and understand what a business in good condition looks like versus a business that is not, and how to make good decisions based on that.
“The more exposed you are to how a bank operates, the better prepared you are to serve your customers, and all of that is the backside of what I do today. Fifty percent of my job is very analytical and technical. The other 50% of it is social and service oriented.
“I think it takes both to build customer relationships.”
McClain was part of the initial three-person team to plant the Bank Independent flag in Huntsville in 2014. The bank is in leased space on Holmes Avenue downtown, waiting to move into its offices at 225 Holmes the end of February.
“It will give us a much larger presence downtown,” said McClain.
He said when BI started in Huntsville, they leased a small space on the third floor of the YMCA on Green Street.
“We can see that small original space from our new building,” McClain said. “But now I look at our new Huntsville headquarters and all of our building projects going on around us, and I am so proud to have been a part of that team.
“I believe our current construction projects are a testament to Bank Independent’s commitment to growing the Huntsville market.”
In addition to the bank’s new building downtown, there is a branch on U.S. 72 at Nance Road in Madison.
Meanwhile, two more banks are still under construction: a branch on County Line Road in Madison is expected to open late this year and a South Huntsville location at Hays Farm is planning to open early next year.
“We have some additional strategic locations where we would like to go in the future, too,” said McClain.
Since 2014, BI has helped finance several large commercial projects in Huntsville, including Campus No. 805, Stovehouse, MidCity, Times Plaza, and the redevelopment of Joe Davis Stadium.
“The commercial real estate side of banking is really about relationship-building and understanding the customer’s projects and creating a competitive and desirable loan structure that makes sense for what the customer wants to accomplish, and for what’s best for the bank,” McClain said.
But isn’t the banking industry highly competitive?
“We think healthy competition is good competition because it inspires us to put forth our best efforts,” McClain said. “I think competition makes us sharper and makes us pay more attention to detail. It makes us more aware of our core values and that keeps us true to our customers, to help them reach their goals.
“If you are not doing those things, someone else will. Bank Independent will.”
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