STUART, Fla.-As other banks grapple with the issue of branching, Seacoast Banking Corp. of Florida is letting its creativity run loose. The Stuart company has opened five offices in the last three months, called "fuel cells," to focus on small businesses. The aim is to foster more collaboration between commercial clients and Seacoast employees.
Seacoast's executives are quick to note that the offices, branded as Accelerate, are not retail branches. All of the transactions are completed electronically or through an ATM. Instead, the staff focuses on advising Generation X business owners, usually between 30 and 50 years old.
"Younger entrepreneurs frankly may not have had a positive experience with banks in the past," said Dennis Hudson 3rd, Seacoast's chairman and chief executive. "But you can walk into one of our offices and [employees] will give you advice right on the spot."
Foot traffic in branches has declined in recent years, prompting several banks to experiment with features designed to better serve customers. Umpqua Holdings hosts events such as yoga classes and book reading. Berkshire Hills Bancorp has added community rooms to some branches that include video game systems, according to American Banker, an affiliate of Credit Union Journal.
In developing Accelerate, Seacoast studied its target demographic and other banks that were successfully developing their franchises, says H. Russell Holland 3rd, the $2.2 billion-asset company's chief lending officer.
Seacoast found that high-performing banks hired talented staff, empowered employees to give advice, provided a platform to do business and focused on a specific segment of the market.
Seacoast originally focused on residential mortgages but has moved into more commercial lending over the last decade, says Jefferson Harralson, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. The company offers many fee-based services, like trust and insurance, that help it strengthen ties to commercial customers, he added.
Unique Way To Reach Out
"Seacoast has a history of reaching out to customers in unique ways, and they are well connected in their communities," Harralson said. "Banks are using small business as a way to replace some of the commercial real estate loan portfolio they have lost."
Accelerate's targeted demographic likes "empowerment and engagement, so we have tried to develop a process that allows that," Holland noted.
The physical aspects of the offices feature open floor plans that offer space for collaborative work. Teller lines were replaced with a coffee and wine bar. Other features include lounges with leather couches, video screens for presentations and access to Skype.
