SOLVAY — Solvay Bank has big plans for 2014 that include a new “smart branch” in DeWitt and several new technology components that will improve the customer experience, bank officials say. The bank will soon decide on a construction firm for its DeWitt branch project and expects to break ground within the next month, says […]
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SOLVAY — Solvay Bank has big plans for 2014 that include a new “smart branch” in DeWitt and several new technology components that will improve the customer experience, bank officials say.
The bank will soon decide on a construction firm for its DeWitt branch project and expects to break ground within the next month, says Paul Mello, president and CEO of Solvay Bank.
He estimates it will take about four months to build the 2,400-square-foot branch at 6828 E. Genesee St. in DeWitt and another month to install equipment and prepare for a summer opening.
“Our goal is to increase our market share,” Mello says. “We do a lot of business in that market now,” he says of the DeWitt area.
Mello hopes the new branch will attract new customers as well as help the bank better serve existing customers in the area.
As a smart branch, the location will integrate new technology with the type of personalized service customer Solvay Bank’s customers expect, Mello contends.
Elements of the smart branch with its free-flowing floor plan include employees trained to perform a variety of job functions in order to improve efficiency as well as improved technology such as using tablets instead of desktop computers.
Other features of the new branch, which will employ five people, will include a conference room for loan closings, a community room, Wi-Fi, a “smart ATM” that makes check deposits immediately available, and a coffee bar. The bank will also provide commercial banking services and may add some other services such as insurance if demand warrants it, Mello says.
“It’ll have some traditional elements because people still want that,” he says of the DeWitt branch but will also be equipped for customers who prefer to use the latest technology.
Technology launches
Solvay Bank will launch two new apps later this year to benefit customers.
First to roll out in the spring is a remote check-capture app that will allow customers to snap a picture of checks and deposit them using the app on their smartphones. The app is a follow up to Solvay Bank’s 2013 launch of its mobile-banking app. That application was so well-received — the bank hit its one-year user goal within six months of launching — that interest in a remote check-capture app seems a given, Mello notes.
“There’s no need to go to the bank,” he says. “That’s the future of banking.”
Within the next month, Solvay Bank will unveil its redesigned online mortgage platform, which is easy to use and features online profiles and portals for each of the bank’s mortgage consultants.
Over the summer, Solvay Bank hopes to launch a mobile-banking app designed specifically for the iPad and other tablets with a system more tailored to those platforms, Mello says.
Finally, Solvay Bank is working on creating a virtual wallet along the lines of the PayPal and Google wallets that allows users to store information such their loyalty program cards and credit cards right on their phones.
“We think there is a huge potential down that road that this will replace your plastic cards,” Mello says. People want secure shopping transactions, he notes, but they also want easy transactions. The virtual wallet is a great tool to put all they need in one safe, secure location. “We think it has a lot of potential,” he says of the technology.
Mello declined to say how much Solvay Bank is investing in the new branch and technology, but says he expects all to combine and help yield another strong revenue year for the bank.
Solvay Bank generated record revenue of $22.3 million in 2013 and forecasts revenue of $23.4 million for this year. “We’re optimistic that 2014 will be a little better than 2013, and 2013 was a little better than 2012,” Mello says.
Between the new DeWitt branch and the new technology offerings, Solvay Bank customers will be able to do business with the bank with ease whether they prefer face-to-face interaction, over the phone, on their computers, or on their mobile devices, Mello contends. “We believe in choice,” he says.
Headquartered at 1537 Milton Ave., Solvay Bank (www.solvaybank.com) is a full-service commercial bank with eight branches located in Solvay, Fairmount, Camillus, Liverpool, North Syracuse, Cicero, downtown Syracuse, and Westvale. The company employs 158 people and reported total assets of $663.7 million as of Oct. 31, when it announced its third-quarter results. The company also operates Solvay Bank Insurance Agency, Inc.
The FDIC ranks Solvay Bank at seventh in deposit market share in the Syracuse metro area with more than $577 million in deposits, or 5.3 percent of the market’s total deposits, as of June 30, 2013.
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