Concentrate On Customer Service!

The city of Fairbanks, Alaska has about 74,000 people in it-in the wintertime. Which means the Denali State Bank with its one office and one drive-up and 40 employees is a just-right size.

Gary Roth is the chief executive of this $82.5 million bank. He originally came from South Dakota, starting his banking days at the First National Bank of Aberdeen (now NorWest) and worked in Fairbanks financial institutions ten years before he and fellow investors started the Denali State Bank in 1986. He has a rather innovative way of running a bank.

First, Denali State Bank does all their own data processing. For a bank this size, that's unusual. But so is the weather in Fairbanks. When sunspots disrupt satellite links or planes are grounded due to snowstorms, it makes no difference to Denali State. And they do more than their check processing here. Mortgage applications are handled in two to three weeks.

Second, they have no ATMs, and do not plan on any. Mr. Roth says he believes in customer loyalty to build business. "You don't get that at an ATM," he says, "but by talking to a real, live teller where you get real good service."

They're planning on expanding during the next year with another drive up and small lobby facility. Third, Denali has some very happy, experienced tellers. Denali employees are paid about 30% more than those paid elsewhere. Turnover is rare, as are trainees. That real good service he talked about is expected-and delivered.

Denali State Bank does no advertising. They depend on word-of-mouth to attract friends of depositors. They have a "substantial number" of commercial accounts, and about 7,000 accounts, (or, as Gary Roth termed it-"about 2600 family units".) Some of their accounts are from customers as far as 200 miles away. These customers often use a "good-ole-boy" courier service, with anyone who is coming into Fairbanks doing the banking for all the neighbors from their village.

Bank fraud is almost non-existent in the winter. After all, there are only two roads out of town! But counterfeits and forgeries do show up in the summer when the tourist trade picks up. The tellers pretty much know how to spot and handle this activity, according to Mr. Roth.

Personal service, well paid tellers and bank employees, experienced personnel-what a way to run a bank! Actually, to quote Gary Roth, "It's a healthy, profitable way to run a bank."

Copyright © 1993 Bankers' Hotline. Originally appeared in Bankers' Hotline, Vol. 4, No. 1, 6/93