Much in the industry is shrinking, but in two years at the helm of KeyCorp's new 8,800-person Community Banking unit, the word that describes Beth Mooney's tenure is growth.
For 2008, Key Community Banking has had seven-percent growth in loans and leases, and nine-percent growth in deposits. That's driven $1.29 billion, or 51 percent, of KeyCorp's total revenue as of July.
In the second quarter alone, the community banking division collected $659 million in revenue, a 4.6-percent increase from the same period last year, generating earnings of $104 million, slightly more than the $102 million a year earlier.
Even though the volatile credit environment caused Key Community Bank to increase its loan loss provision by 77 percent, the division still turned a six percent increase in net income over 2007. For the first half of 2008, its return on equity was 14.88 percent, net-interest income was up four percent and non-interest income was up three percent. Mooney's community banking division also posted gains in market share-deposit market share was up in in 16 of 23 FDIC districts-and brand awareness.
The driver behind the growth has been Mooney's plan to build a distinctive community banking model by modernizing two-thirds of the bank's 985 branches, making significant investments in new technologies to integrate all facets of the business and upgrading 1,479 ATMs and three call centers.
After joining Key in 2006, she declared the branches to be the "Dairy Queens in the era of Starbucks." Her belief was that the bank needed a comprehensive, integrated branch strategy to compete effectively. "The way I built [the community banking model] was purposeful and 'planful,'" Mooney says. "In just two years on the job, it has grown well. We want to stay the course and build on the plan particularly in these turbulent times," she says.
Another initiative started under Mooney that reaches an important part of the bank's community is the Key4Women program, which surpassed a three-year commitment to lend $1 billion to qualified women-owned businesses.
Mooney is also deeply involved in her Cleveland community. She is a trustee and treasurer of The Cleveland Orchestra board and a trustee on the boards of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and Neighborhood Progress Inc., a community revitalization program.
Her influence is notable and noteworthy: Mooney received the 2008 Greater Cleveland Chapter YWCA Women of Achievement Award, the 2007-2008 Distinguished Alumni Award from the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University and was named one of the 50 Most Influential people in Cleveland by Cleveland Magazine. (
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