by George Hassett

The president of the 160th largest bank in the nation spoke at the contributors meeting of the Somerville News May 21.

“We are a 35 year old company – opened May 1, 1969 across the street from Foss Park in a trailer on the sidewalk. Today we are a $1.75 billion company, which may not seem like a lot compared to Fleet, but we are very pleased with our work and customer service,” said Jonathan G. Sloane, 45, who is also the chief operating officer of Century Bank.

“Our bank is essentially a three-legged stool. That is, we encompass retail, commercial lending and institutional business,” said Sloane.

Sloane said Century Bank’s style of retail business concentrates on building one excellent branch per community rather than filling a community with several branches of lesser value.

“We are better than Fleet because of that strategy. We don’t rely on convenience to attract customers; we have to work to attract them. For example, we had free checking for years before Fleet caught onto the wave,” said Sloane.

Sloane said the commercial lending aspect of his bank is the second leg and middle core of the stool that is Century Bank.

“We have three tiers to this leg. They are commercial real estate; not-for-profit business; and loans up to $80 million for widget companies,” said Sloane.

“Our third leg is institutional lending in which we do business with 55 percent of the cities and towns of Massachusetts. Competition for those contracts is quite heated, and I’m happy to say we just won the contract to serve Somerville in what was a very heated battle,” said Sloane.

Sloane said even mid-level banks offering a wide variety of services such as his own are limited by the present realities of bank consolidation.

“The credit part of the nation’s banking is controlled by a few major players such as Bank One and First U.S.A. Bank. Small players like us, even though we are the 160th largest bank in the nation, can’t play in the credit game. We just don’t have the buying power or financial presence to do that kind of work,” said Sloane, who added that consolidation is a factor in every corner of today’s business world.

“There is consolidation in the general industry though. The Boston market is dominated by three major players – Bank of America, Citizens Bank and Sovereign. They have huge market dominance and power. But there is consolidation everywhere today, in businesses as diverse as insurance and mass communication,” said Sloane.

Sloane closed with a dreary forecast for the financial future, but pledged his bank would stay ahead of the game and behind the consumer.

“There are major discrepancies in wealth between even the wealthiest banks. The 200 wealthiest banks in the country are worth over $1 billion each, yet major inequalities exist between those banks. That is pretty scary for me. But growth is a critical component in our industry and my family and I are doing all we can to grow into the next generation,” said Sloane.

Sloan said that he was particularly proud of the bank’s support of Somerville Little League. “We’ve been sponsoring the Somerville Little League for 35 years. You used to be able to pick your team, and we used to sponsor the team that played in Foss Park. Now we make the donations to the Little League and they pick the team.”

Sloan said that the bank was committed to supporting a wide variety of local programs. “We give away a lot of money. Banks are chartered for public need and convenience, but I think our bank takes that concept to the extreme. I happen to be on five non-profit boards. We believe that everybody in the company should give back.”.