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Fulfilling a Need
When it became clear that residents in Boone, Iowa, needed and wanted a more progressive, locally owned and operated bank, a nearby holding company, Ogden BancShares, gathered local bank executives and devised a business strategy. The result was the 1999 charter of Community Bank of Boone.
Starting with just 30 local investors, the de novo quickly expanded, and continues to grow at a steady and healthy pace. The bank doubled in assets during its first year and has since surpassed $150 million in assets. To more conveniently serve an expanding customer base, the bank added a downtown location in April 2002.
Randy Schmitz, Community Bank of Boone senior vice president, attributes much of the bank’s rapid growth to their ability to remain a leader in adopting new technologies. “We were determined to make technology one of the bank’s niches to better serve customers, and our partnership with Fiserv has been a key component in achieving this technology strategy.”
A Proven, Progressive Partnership
Before launching Community Bank of Boone, Ogden BancShares already had a successful banking operation. The group also owns City State Bank, an Ogden, Iowa-based bank partnering with Fiserv. As plans for Community Bank of Boone moved forward, the holding company and bank executive partners sought to establish a technology partnership with a trusted software vendor that would enable them to build on the success of City State Bank and take it to the next level. They chose to process in-house with the Fiserv business unit, Precision Computer Systems (PCS).
Forging the Technology Trail
Crafting a strong technology strategy was important to the bank from the beginning, and a key component in the de novo bank’s success has been its choice of the PCS VisionTM core solution. Available from Precision Computer Systems, PCS Vision can be deployed in either in-house or outsourced processing environments. “We like the people at PCS, and we need the power of the PCS Vision software. It’s a good fit for our progressive financial institution,” says Schmitz.
As Community Bank of Boone continues to grow, the financial institution can count on PCS as a strong and reliable partner. “PCS either has the solution we need or they will have it for us soon,” says Schmitz. The bank finds the solutions easy to use and affordable, enabling it to offer a wide variety of products that customers want.
Advanced Solutions
The Community Bank of Boone is eager to serve as a test site of new products – as they did with the PCS Internet Banking solution. “I can’t say enough about how Fiserv has worked with us, recognizing that we are an innovative and aggressive institution. We enjoy working with a company that is as forward-looking as we are,” adds Schmitz.
The bank also considers its early adoption of the PCS InSight Teller solution “a pivotal piece” in its success. InSight streamlines tasks and increases security at the teller line through integration with PCS Vision.
This technology-centric bank also benefits from the recent PCS Vision architectural and user interface enhancements that have gained recognition from Celent, an international research and consulting firm. The industry analyst recently identified PCS Vision as having some of the most advanced technology and the greatest depth of integration in the marketplace. The new technologies help Community Bank of Boone to better serve customers and remain agile in the future.
A Successful Blueprint
Community Bank of Boone has been so successful that the holding company has replicated the formula to create two additional de novo banks. Three years after starting the bank in Boone, Ogden BancShares joined with a group of investors to launch Ames Community Bank – once again choosing Fiserv as their technology partner. The bank has steadily grown in the college community of Ames, Iowa, and has now reached nearly $200 million in assets in just six years. Recently, Ogden BancShares again partnered with Fiserv and local investors to create a new financial institution. Banking operations in West Des Moines and Grimes, suburbs of Iowa’s capital city, began as branches of the Community Bank of Boone. In 2006, they spun off with their own charter for VisionBank of Iowa, which is on pace to achieve or even exceed the success of its sister banks.
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