retail banking renewed

Filed in archive Global Economy on March 21, 2004

Fast Company has a fascinating although rather long article about Commerce Bank. Commerce Bank has ventured into this written off area of banking with a new attitude - serving your customer.

"Why such unbankerlike behavior? Because Commerce, based in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, with branches throughout the state as well as in Delaware, New York, and Pennsylvania, doesn't model itself on the giants of its industry. Its models are the giants of retailing, including the Home Depot, McDonald's, Starbucks, and Wal-Mart. President and CEO Vernon Hill believes fundamentally -- and tells anyone who will listen -- that Commerce isn't in the banking business. Rather, it's in the retail business, and its business model revolves around becoming a power retailer. "The problem with most banks is that they abuse their customers every day. We want to wow ours," Hill says. Banking is practically a dirty word around Commerce. As chief retail officer Dennis DiFlorio puts it, "The greatest insult you can give someone here is to say, 'You're thinking like a banker.' "