St. Louis American: What does a bank have to do differently when a pandemic hits? What are you doing differently and in what ways?
Orvin T. Kimbrough: This pandemic impacted every aspect of our business operations. We had to think through literally every aspect of a dramatically different business model, over the course of a few weeks. We were already thinking through how to digitize and optimize many of our legacy processes, but this significantly accelerated the pace of change.
Our number one goal has been, and will continue to be, protecting our people and protecting the public. Given that, we had to figure out how to continue to engage with and serve the public, but do so in a way that was safe for everyone. We moved more than 65% of our staff to working from home, which includes our entire back-office function and most of our frontline sales team. We made our lobbies open by appointment only, continuing to service our customers through the drive-throughs.Â
And, there is a big education component here. While we’ve offered online and mobile banking for a while, we had to reach out and educate some of our older customers on how to transact their business online.Â
The bottom line is we continue to offer high-touch service, but we are leveraging digital platforms like Webex, Zoom or Docusign like never before to do it. I, alongside my team, work very long hours now, but I do it all from my home office and connect with people digitally.
St. Louis American: Banks deal with some of the most sensitive information outside of intelligence agencies. How do you go virtual and remote so fast while still protecting your customers’ data and ultimately assets?
Orvin T. Kimbrough: It’s not easy, but like I said before, we accelerated change that was already in motion, and we had the foundation in place. Banks are one of the most regulated industries in the United States. There are lots of regulatory requirements and protocols banks must follow to ensure that we are working in smart ways to secure customer data. The same level of due diligence, and in some cases more, is done in a digital environment.
The risks oddly, are the same, everything just moves at a quicker pace. People intent to do bad things to others are out there, whether it’s a physical environment or digital. We are intense about risk. We have an extraordinary risk-management team whose job it is to ensure that we are doing everything within our control in any environment to protect customer information. It is because of their focus that we were able to quickly navigate the complexities of moving into a remote work environment.
St. Louis American: The economic impacts from the pandemic we hear the most about are losses in jobs and stock market positions. How do those impacts show up on a bank ledger? You must be seeing dramatic changes, not only in the way you do business, but in your business.
Orvin T. Kimbrough: It depends on the kind of bank you are. National and publicly traded banks that are tied to the markets are seeing huge swings daily in their value. We are a local, privately held community bank. What impacts us is less about what is happening on Wall Street and more about what is happening on Main Street.
On Main Street, by some measures nearly 70% of Americans have less than $1,000 in savings, with 45% having nothing saved at all, so when a crisis hits, the impact is real and immediate. For every person that doesn’t have a job, they are making choices on whether they will eat or pay their bills. Every choice creates a domino effect. As more and more customers who have loans from financial institutions lose their job, it is likely they will also lose the ability to pay their debt.
The pressure that all banks face is in their credit department. As banks go through extraordinary measures to work with customers who are struggling, their earnings will likely be negatively impacted, which is why you see banks of all sizes increasing their loan-loss reserves. We are adjusting in real time how we do business. We have long talked about the importance of agility. The current crisis is testing the flexibility and resolve of every business. Some will rise to the occasion, and others will not.
St. Louis American: I have known you a long time, and you are known for two things: hard work and using every network available to you, which includes the black community. Tell me about how you are trying to leverage the bank’s resources to assist black businesses and consumers during this crisis. Success stories welcome within the bounds of client confidentiality.  Â
Orvin T. Kimbrough: I agree with your point. Coming from my background, hard work is a necessary but insufficient condition of success. I didn’t come from money, and I wasn’t born with the so-called right connections. Over time, I have been able to develop a body of work and reputation that is ultimately about doing right by people. In general, when you do right by people, good things happen to and for you. It’s the sowing-and-reaping principle found in scripture. Staying true to this principle has helped me form and maintain an incredibly diverse set of relationships, which I treasure. Relationships and networks matter for getting anything of significance done.
I am blessed to serve the bank and this region. I believe that I have been elevated to this position to help more people gain access to mainstream banking – to build businesses, to hire people, to fund educations and create wealth. I understand the power of leveraging networks, I understand the power of the right platform, and I understand the power of positioning more people for success. This is ultimately what we are trying to do at Midwest BankCentre. Â
For many years, the bank has had a heart for helping people. During the current crisis, we have simply tapped into the reservoir of concern for the community that is present in our board, ownership group and team. We have doubled down on our effort to help those who would more likely than not be left out. Unfortunately, this group is disproportionately black and brown.
There are so many heartbreaking and impactful stories. I am reminded of a local mechanic who didn’t get his paperwork for the Payroll Protection Program (PPP) in on time during the first round of applications. The money ran out. He called me on my cell phone disheartened. He had never dealt with a mainstream financial institution and didn’t know his options. He believed that he would need to close his shop.
After our conversation, our leader of Community and Economic Development, Alex Fennoy connected with him. Alex found a creative way to help him immediately with a line of credit. And when the second round of PPP became available, we promptly got his application in. He of course was ecstatic, and so were we. We love helping the black community, and all economically challenged people, understand and leverage the banking system.
