The Many Faces Of Banking

In an effort to call the bank to the attention of the public and cre­ate a pleasant, relaxing atmosphere where shoppers and business- people could pause to relax at noontime, a large metropolitan savings bank began offering concerts in the lobby from noon until two o'clock. It was an experiment that proved so popular that the concerts were scheduled on a permanent basis.

"Is this banking?" some people were heard to ask as they stood listening to a piece played by a string quartet. Banks were tradi­tionally thought of as conservative businesses that did not have to call attention to themselves. Everyone needed a bank, hence all a banker had to do was open the doors and wait for the customers to arrive.

Banking Is People

Banking is centered around people—people like you, your rela­tives, and your friends. Banking involves people dedicated to per­forming a variety of financial services for others to help make their lives happier, easier, and more productive. Banking is not the typical fortresslike granite structure in the country village or the soaring stainless steel and glass tower rising from the city street. Behind the façade you find people, thousands and thousands of men and women who are performing a tremendous variety of jobs, most of whom are proud of their responsibilities, eager to please the public they serve, and eager for promotions to more challenging and better paying positions.

Banking For Today

In the movie It's a Wonderful Life, Jimmy Stewart portrays a banker at a savings and loan institution. Set in 1940's small-town America, Stewart loans money to poor people to help them build decent homes. Unfortunately, a misplaced bank deposit that ends up in the hands of the heartless Lionel Barrymore might spell trou­ble for Stewart. Mr. Barrymore initiates an audit of Stewart and his bank. However, the people Stewart put his faith in don't let him down. Eventually, they make their way to the bank—money in hand—to bail him out.

Times are a lot different than they were in the 1940s. Then, banks were a convenience to many of the people who used them. Today, banks have become a necessity in order to compete and survive in the financial marketplace.

Banks help their customers in a variety of ways. Fresh and inno­vative methods are constantly being developed to help make the banking experience more accessible to the customer. Along with new banks opening all the time, banking methods are becoming increasingly high-tech. Banking can now be done online by way of the Internet. If almost everything else can be accessed via the in­formation superhighway, why not banking?