Midwest BankCentre Pagedale Bank Celebrates 1 Year Anniversary

Underserved residents in North St. Louis County are celebrating the one-year anniversary of the opening of the first full service bank ever in Pagedale, Mo.   Midwest BankCentre’s (MBC) Pagedale branch opened on Nov. 13, 2012 and to date it is meeting and in some cases exceeding the benchmarks it set for itself.  

Located at 6810 Page Ave. at the new Rosie Shields Manor Senior Living Facility, the bank serves businesses and residents in an area previously unbanked and without quality banking options.  To date, the Pagedale bank’s loans and deposits substantially exceed its first-year forecast with nearly $6 million in deposits and approximately $2.5 million in loans.

“We embarked on a strategy to engage community organizations in developing bank services uniquely tailored to neighborhood needs,” said Ron Barnes, chairman, MBC.  “In the end, we did what we’ve done for more than 100 years as a community bank – develop a successful business model tied to helping the communities we serve succeed.” 

In developing its services, MBC worked with Beyond Housing, Mount Beulah Missionary Baptist Church, the city of Pagedale, the Metropolitan St. Louis Equal Housing Opportunity Council (EHOC), Better Family Life, Habitat for Humanity, the Metro St. Louis Coalition for Inclusion and Equity, Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, Inc. and justine PETERSEN.  It also created the MBC 24:1 Community Council comprised of local government officials, clergy, bank staff and businesses to advance Beyond Housing’s mission of stabilizing and improving neighborhoods.  

“Midwest BankCentre developed the most thoughtful approach in setting up the bank to succeed,” said Beyond Housing President and CEO Chris Krehmeyer. “This is an important step towards assuring a brighter economic future for Pagedale and the 24:1 community.”

Among the services MBC offers are:

· Affordable home improvement loans to improve and stabilize low- to moderate-income neighborhoods. This year, it has closed 70 home improvement loans;

· “Confidence Checking”- a low cost checking account designed to help the unbanked and under-banked better access bank services;

· Low interest loans to support homeownership by working in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity and Northside Community Housing (NCH);

· Financial empowerment through approximately 40 financial education classes this year at MBC branches and other locations throughout the community; and

· A business banking team focused on developing local business banking relationships in St. Louis city and county with a special concentration in the 24:1 Community.

“Outreach has been extremely important to us,” said Jim Watson, president and CEO, MBC.  “Our staff has been highly engaged in supporting efforts to improve the lives of our customers.  The healthier our neighborhoods are, the more successful we’ll be as a bank.”

MBC engagements span all levels of the Pagedale bank’s leadership and includes:

· MBC Senior Vice President and Director of Community Development Alex Fennoy, who

co-chairs the St. Louis Regional Unbanked Task Force and its “Bank On Save Up” initiative launched in February 2013 with a goal of engaging 20,000 households in mainstream banking over the next two years.

· MBC Vice President of Business Banking John Shivers, who chairs MBC’s 24:1 Community Council.  Shivers has reached out to more than 100 businesses, churches and non-profit organizations to offer MBC banking services.  Approximately 70 percent of the outreach has been to minority- or women-owned enterprises.

· MBC Community Development Officer David Noble, who chairs the Metropolitan St. Louis Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) Association.  Noble has conducted more than 35 financial education workshops at locations throughout the St. Louis metropolitan area.  Topics include budgeting, credit management and home ownership.

·  MBC Senior Vice President and Director of Compliance Sarina Strack, who co-chairs the local St. Louis 2014 Money Smart Week initiative.  Money Smart Week is a nationwide, coordinated effort of hundreds of organizations across the country including businesses, financial institutions, schools, libraries, not-for-profits, government agencies and the media. These groups come together once a year to stress the importance of financial literacy, inform consumers about where they can get help and provide free educational seminars and activities throughout the week.

· MBC Vice President  of Business Banking Joe Riebold, who is the treasurer and a member of the Kiwanis Club of Normandy 24:1.

Founded in 1906, Midwest BankCentre (www.midwestbankcentre.com) provides integrated financial services with an expertise in commercial and retail banking, including checking and savings accounts, business cash management and mortgage lending. As a community bank, Midwest BankCentre makes decisions on a local level and clients have full access to the executive team. Since 2001, it has consistently achieved the Bauer Financial 5-Star Superior financial rating, the highest ranking for strength and stability awarded by Bauer Financial.