On Tuesday, October 5th, we get a chance to say thanks to the “mensch” of local banks. If you move in local non-profit circles, you know “Wainwright” is the usual answer when people ask, “Know any socially responsible, progressive banks?” Wainwright has helped all manner of causes and programs – housing, poverty, LGBT issues, environmental, youth, recovery, HIV/AIDS, etc. – financially and other ways under the visionary leadership of Co-Chairman Bob Glassman.
Glassman expounded on Wainwright Bank’s philosophy of doing well by doing good in 2007 in American Banker:
“There’s nothing over the years involving our approach to social justice or to the nonprofit community that has inhibited our ability to be profitable,” he said. “If anything, it’s been very supportive of that side of it. The two absolutely mutually reinforce one another.”
Bob Glassman and Wainwright are being honored with the Social Justice Legend Award at a fundraiser Tuesday. The event appropriately benefits the Jewish Alliance for Law & Social Action, whose mission is advocating and organizing for social and economic justice and the protection of constitutional civil liberties. I’ll be there and hope some other BMG’rs will be too. We need to recognize the good guys in the business community.
Wainwright has been my bank since I left the Dark Side (B of A) several years ago. I’ve loved them, they are a fabulous bank.
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p>Sadly, according to the Wainwright site, Wainwright announced on June 29, 2009 that it has been acquired by Eastern Bank.
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p>Ironically enough, the press release is titled “Project Tea party”.
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p>Hah. Hah hah hah.
It happens to be my bank by default because it acquired the bank which in turn acquired the bank in which I opened my accounts several years ago. I hope there are some good ones out there because this seems to be just the kind of bank Steve Grossman wants to put our money in when he’s Treasurer.
They have one branch in Newton, one downtown, one in Medford.
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p>I will greatly miss the genuinely personal service I got from Wainwright, the local bank offices with a community room in each available for local groups, the bank of TV monitors in the lobby showing CNN/CSPAN while I did my banking business.
Your statements are contradictory or at least confusing.
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p>First “I don’t know anything about Eastern Bank”.
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p>Then “I will genuinely miss the personal service I got from Wainwright”
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p>So if you know nothing about Eastern Bank, how do you know you won’t get similar, or better treatment, than you got at Wainwright?
I apologize if there was something confusing about my comment.
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p>I’ve been a retail banking customer a bit more than forty years, in both Maryland and Massachusetts. I opened my first Massachusetts account in 1974, at a Shawmut Bank office in Maynard that was housed in a trailer. I don’t recall the precise sequence, but between 1980 and 2000, that same account was hosted at BayBank, BankBoston, Bank of New England (I think!), Fleet, and Bank of America. Ten years ago, after tiring of Bank of America’s relentless “mistakes” in fees (including “mistakes” in which they literally drained the savings accounts of my three young children, reversing them only when I waited in line for an hour to speak to a branch manager willing to check), I tried Citizens Bank — and found it was worse.
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p>The branch manager at Wainwright knows my wife and I personally, by name. She said “hello Tom” and asked about my wife and children when we passed on the street. When she saw a transaction coming through that looked unusual, she called me first. When we had some rather more complex transfers involving Austrian banks (my wife is Austrian), she personally made sure that every step happened correctly. The tellers in Coolidge Corner were always available, always friendly, always competent. There were no sullen BofA-style encounters — none. As in not one.
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p>I, therefore, don’t believe that there is any contradiction or confusion in observing that I will miss the service, friendliness, and professional excellence that I experienced at Wainwright.
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p>It is surely possible that Eastern Bank will do to the same. After all, just because it took thirty years and seven banks to find a winner with Wainwright doesn’t mean that Eastern won’t be just as good.
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p>I don’t believe there is anything contradictory about observing that Wainwright set a very high level of excellence, and that I see no indication (from, for example, the Eastern Bank website) that they even strive for — never mind achieve — anything similar.
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p>Always the optimist, I nevertheless very much hope that Eastern Bank will surprise me.
Some info and perspective in this commentary:
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p>Also here:
How does it work, that they can be more profitable by supporting social justice? As far as I know, they also offer pretty high interest rates and benefits too. It doesn’t make sense, where does the extra profit come from?
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p>2. Their customers & employees are willing to “get less” in order to work with/for Wainwright. I know that I’d bank with Wainwright if I ever stopped using my credit union, and I wouldn’t even shop around. Their reputation for customers and for the community is good, so I’d go there — potentially “getting less” because I didn’t shop around for the best deal.
The Boston Globe reports that Eastern Bank, the regional bank that has acquired Wainwright, was the top SBA lender in Massachusetts for the second straight year.
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p>From the piece:
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p>According to the piece, Bank of America made just six SBA loans during the same period.
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p>Kudos and props to Eastern Bank, this is certainly welcome news for this Wainwright customer.