The recent headlines and news stories are filled with information that we are discovering in real-time together, which can make it difficult to know with certainty what the future holds for us all. What we can do, as your community bank partner, is tell you what we know to be true.
Our entire team, board of directors, and executive leadership team count on Richwood Bank for their livelihood and banking needs, just as you do. Every business decision we make directly affects us all. It is our money, too. We are not a part of the big bank headlines, yet we are federally regulated to stringent guidelines for banking integrity that keep us on the pulse of financial policy.
In the simplest terms, this means we have local, boots-on-the-ground leadership who live and work here and rely on the value of the dollar just like you. We take every decision seriously because it affects our entire community.
There is no doubt that without a community bank, communities will not thrive. Being a rural community bank headquartered within the same village we began 155 years ago, we take our impact of greater responsibility seriously.
Generation after generation within our history, how we bank may change over time, yet why we bank does not. We carry our small-town values with authentic intentions to protect them.
The last two years have been a test for every person in resiliency and adaptation. We have expert banking professionals monitoring global, federal, state, and local activity with the goal of economic stability while we continue to grow with trusted customers in record numbers.
We have a fraud team and invested in significant increases in monitoring and protecting you and our bank from fraud. Our customers should not have to worry about prank calls, scams, emails, theft, and check or card fraud, yet you’d be shocked at how much outside people attempt to target local customers.
We know that the best way to serve your customers is to be one yourself. We continue to bank with us. Our stockholders all live here and expect their investment in our community to be stable and growing. That is what we are doing, and we do not want to stop doing that. We want to be the service experts you turn to for financial and business questions.
Last year, when a bill was proposed that would require us to report your banking activity above $600 to the IRS, we let you know so that actions could take place. It wasn’t political – it was about your relationship with us and our need to inform you. We believe this could have harmed your confidence in us which we value greatly.
By sharing that information with you and the outpouring of your supportive actions, our state representative heard us loud and clear from Washington DC, thanking us personally as most financial institutions had remained silent.
We commit to continue that communication when our network of bankers, auditors, Fed representatives, and economic experts advise us on anything that could impact our community. When you understand your purpose within the community as we do, it’s these moments that make us want to pause and assure you that although we can’t predict the future, we can be a positive place of transparency. We will continue to communicate.
Thank you for your trust in Richwood Bank. Thank you for being great customers. You make it happen!
