By Sara Poirier Correa
Sentinel Reporter
You’re attempting to get a loan and paperwork must be hand-delivered by noon. However, you’re stuck in a meeting in a neighboring town and won’t be able to get to the bank in time.
Not to worry—if the loan is being secured from First Bank of Greenwich, it’s got you covered, thanks to its unique courier service that will pick send someone to pick the paperwork up from you.
This is just one of the personal experiences you can have when you are a customer of the Cos Cob-based bank.
“We’re one true community bank,” said Frank Gaudio, bank president and chief executive officer.
Contributing to the “great vibe” Gaudio said exists at First Bank is the golden Labrador retriever Gus or his cousin Murphy, whose title of “mascot” makes one or the other a mainstay at the bank during the day to meet and greet customers. And Gaudio’s own open office policy makes him accessible to those seeking more than just a counter transaction.
“It’s the way business used to be years ago,” Gaudio said of the bank, where knowing your name is their business. “It’s almost a little private bank without being a private bank.”
First Bank of Greenwich sits prominently at 444 East Putnam Avenue in Cos Cob, a far cry from the office space on Mason Street it started with nearly 10 years ago. The bank is one among many in a ZIP code known for its abundance of banks. That fact, however, doesn’t seem to faze Gaudio.
“Our customer service is much more superior,” he said when asked what differentiates First Bank from its more corporate competitors. “We actually know our customers.
“You’re not working with a machine at this bank. We’re the exact opposite.”
In addition to regular banking services such as checking and savings accounts, commercial and residential lending and online banking, the bank has one off-site ATM at The J House Greenwich hotel in Riverside. Plans to expand that service are in the works, Gaudio said, as are plans to expand bank branch locations and provide mobile banking to customers.
Longtime bank customer Griff Harris, president of Griffith E. Harris Insurance Services, said First Bank’s approach to business is what drew him in the door. He now serves as vice chair of the bank’s advisory board.
“Initially, it was very much that they were a small community bank,” Harris said of why he became a First Bank customer. “I felt I would get the personal touch and the personal service that smaller banks can provide.
“I think the unique dynamic is that they take that personal level of attention, that personal touch, to the highest level you can expect. A lot of banks can do better in that area.”
From banking to business promotion to appreciating the arts, Gaudio and his team make working with First Bank an all-inclusive experience.
Blending art, music and much more, First Bank plays host to many exhibitions throughout the year, often bringing local and not-so-local artists and their work to Cos Cob.
“The walls were bare when I first got to the bank,” Gaudio told the Greenwich Sentinel. “I wanted some art on the walls and I had to figure out how to do it.”
With the help of consultant Julia Chiappetta, Gaudio brought that art to East Putnam, lining the walls of First Bank with color. Now some 250 people show up to mix and mingle at each artist event held at the bank—so many people, in fact, that a shuttle is set up to accommodate the overflow of patrons parking at Cos Cob Library.
“It kept going and going,” Gaudio said of the art shows’ success. “It snowballed and has turned into quite a cult movement.”
Most recently, on Wednesday, Sept. 9, local singer Natasha DiMarco performed at the bank’s fall artist reception. The exhibition showcased the works of Marco Gallotta and Greenwich’s own Michael Spezzano.
Aside from promoting the artistic abilities of residents and others, First Bank has taken its business a step further, helping connect local businesses with each other. What started as a directory of businesses for the bank’s advisory board has turned into a larger network now known as B2B.
Chiappetta is co-chair of the group. “A lot of synergy, a lot of referrals and a lot of new relationships have taken place [because of B2B],” she said of the networking collective, which now has 1,500 members.
The different cultural events held at the bank all fall under the B2B umbrella, but the highlight is the annual conference at which member businesses showcase themselves.
“It’s a huge mix of businesses,” Chiappetta said of the group, adding that a business doesn’t have to be a bank customer to be a part of the network.
Harris’s company, a bank member since 2007, now also handles all insurance for the institution. He said being a part of B2B is great “affordable” advertising for a company. “The idea is to get your name and your business in front of, and reaching out to, as many potential customers as possible,” he said.
“What I think is unique about the large B2B event is that they have a huge variety of local businesses exhibiting.”
And in case there is any question whether B2B is competing with other networking groups like BNI or even the Chamber of Commerce, leaders of the group insist they’re all working together.
“What we do is meant to complement and enhance what is already going on here in Fairfield and Westchester counties,” Chiappetta said.
Promoting those in the community is what First Bank of Greenwich is all about, according to Gaudio. Whether it’s supporting the local Silver Shield Association, the fire department or working with kids at the schools and town holiday parties, the team is all systems go in Greenwich.
“The heart of the bank is to support the foundation of the community,” Chiappetta said. “We really try to align with those foundational aspects of our community [first responders, teachers, etc.] because that’s what a true community bank does.”
Gaudio said he would continue to work with the bank’s team to come up with new ways to broadcast the First Bank of Greenwich name and attract new customers.
“When people come in with their children and you see them happy, it makes for a really nice day here at the bank,” he said.
“This is what we do. This is the way we develop our business here, and we’re going to continue to do that.”
For information, visit GreenwichFirst.com.
