Time Stamps:
0:00 – Introduction
0:28 – What is Anderson Brothers Bank
0:45 – Local Bank vs. Larger Bank
8:23 – Contact Us
Jeremy: Hello, my name is Jeremy Finger with Riverbend Wealth Management and we have with us today Bryan Leonards with Anderson Brothers Bank. He’s going to talk to us a little bit about how a local bank handles things a little bit differently than maybe some larger institutions out there so, thank you very much Bryan Leonards for your time today and if you would just introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about yourself and the bank.
Bryan: Sure, Bryan Leonards with Anderson Brothers Bank here in Mullins, South Carolina. I’m over top of everything in Horry County for the bank can help drive the development of the county with Anderson Brothers and growth and things like that and have been in the area for about 18 years.
Jeremy: Thank You, Bryan. Thank you. Can you just tell us a little bit about how a local bank may be a little bit different and how you handle situations different than maybe a lot larger institution.
Bryan: Yeah, one of the benefits of working at a community bank is that you have little bit more freedom, instead of, you know, I say bigger banks, the loan has to be in the box so you want to put a little bit more thinking into it or a little bit market knowledge into decision making and I tell you, somewhere, that might or will come into play in 2020 as people get their tax returns done and we’ve been through this, you know, wild ride and the numbers are definitely gonna be off so you’re gonna need a bank that’s able to apply some common sense and do stuff because looking at cash flows and things like that. If you’re buying it just does it in the box so the numbers aren’t gonna look good for 2020 you’re gonna have borrowing problems but you know fortunately we’ve got some freedom to apply that common sense that it makes, you know, business decisions from helping a lot of bank a ton of local community, local businesses and retail customers so that’s a big part of it.
Jeremy: Yeah, yeah. So in other words like instead of it being almost cookie cutter and happened to fit into a box so to speak, you could talk things through with the client and get a better understanding of the business itself and maneuver around potential potholes if needed to give them more flexibility so, did you help them through the situation?
Bryan: Yeah, we’re able to make local decisions like I said, headquarters and Mullins over in Marion County next door and you know mr. Anderson, the president gives me a little bit of freedom to make these decisions so when you walk in the door, sit down, talk to me, I can help one on one make a decision with you. Try to make the right decision where if you go to a different bank you know you might get a decision out of Charleston or try or somewhere else and it’s just, it’s night and day man.
Jeremy: Right. Well, I’ll tell you this firsthand with some of my class, Bryan, number one you reached out to two people on this PPP loan which was extremely beneficial. Number two you you shared with a lot of our clients exactly how to, what you needed on your anthill the client get their funding and then also funding extremely fast so in times of turmoil it really takes somebody who could maneuver, to be able to get things done quickly and take advantage of the situation versus having it be a problem.
Bryan: Yeah, PPP stimulus was exhausting but fun. I explain it to somebody like, it was like you’re drowning but enjoying it because we all knew the first round that money’s gonna run out so it’s first come first serve and we worked weekends, nights and you’re just trying to get, you felt a little bit of guilt. Every one that you did not do might be a company that couldn’t give their employees’ paychecks, so we wanted to help people. It was all hands on deck and we did many, we did over 1700 loans up to, we did $90,000,000 in stimulus money for the area.
Jeremy: My goodness! Well, congratulations! So when did you start? When did you and the bank start getting in process for that? I mean, cuz it wasn’t like y’all started on that Friday. I mean, so it’s a habit, tell a little bit about that.
Bryan: Yeah. So Rusty Richardson, our chief operating officer sort of took the lead on that and luckily, he dove into it once they announced it he started figuring out the bells and whistles for it and it was sort of we didn’t want to be the bank that let our customers down so we made sure we identified a team but I’m all on it to make sure that we knew we’re going to take care of people. We just didn’t want to look bad to our customers and it turned out that he worked so hard on it that he got it done, right and well and we were able to just jump on it really quick and that was very rewarding. I’ve had a couple customers almost in tears that they might have had to shut down or they would had to layoff 20 employees like that and that’s rewarding.
Jeremy: That is fantastic how early in the game did you have to be? and two weeks ago I had to work beforehand or one week or three weeks.
Bryan: We put in at least ten days. He basically just buried himself in and everything else had to go the sidelines trying to get ready for it because it was a brand-new program and everything to all of us. None of us had seen or heard it before that and then the government says here’s the rules, here’s what you got to do, we had to sift through it all and all documents they get.
Jeremy: That’s right. Yeah, and when things are uncertain, it really takes a quick maneuverability to make things happen in a positive way. You got any examples of like, you obviously don’t disclose any information but on some situations where you were able to help people in this situation or how were you able to maneuver and help somebody whereas it didn’t fit in a box on some other bank?
Bryan: With the stimulus, no, but right now, if customers, example, in motivation, a lot of our businesses are seasonal so they don’t do the same principal payment for twelve months. It’s not the same, they pay big chunks of principal in the summer time when all the tourists come and all that stuff so right now, during these times, we missed April and May for the most part. They didn’t take any money so we’re working with a lot of them now saying, hey we’re refiguring how they can pay us you know, there’s some customers that are just paying on monthly, they had no income March or April. The pub pots were shut down,but you know I’ve got a pub booked us where they had no business and they’re zero business in March and April they’re like, I can’t make my payments. Well, we’re working with them, we live here and we know that. We know they’re shut down and they do it because of their own problems so we’re doing all we can to restructure those payments, push them back to firm and you know just try to be human about it.
Jeremy: That’s right, that’s fantastic! All right, well good, and really being able to have the boots on the ground, being able to see it from the customer’s point of view and work with them, it certainly got to give them a lot of comfort.
Bryan: It’s a lot and it’s a lot like you do at Riverbend. You start at Riverbend and you’re not talking about it a few times and I was happy to see you do that so you could actually help your customers with what they truly needed instead of being in a corporate world or this or that and it’s been fun to watch you you’d be there and grow back.
Jeremy: It really has, thank you Bryan. It has been extremely rewarding to being able to have the flexibility and the autonomy to be able to help the customer the way that they should be so I appreciate that. Well Bryan, I thank you very much, any other thoughts that would be helpful for a potential client or customer out there to know a little bit more about Anderson brothers Bank?
Bryan: I’m not just a little bit geographically, I mean we go from Florence to the beach, Georgetown up to a North Myrtle Beach, but cover all Horry County and further inland Hemmingway, Johnson, so just truly a community bank and a lot of small rural areas and in Myrtle Beach. Be happy to talk, help anybody there’s a lot of people that I helped. For me, they don’t have to bank in here, I just try to help people. Our doors are always open and most of time that ends a weekend up doing business together and it’s just it’s a fun place to bank and and do business.
Jeremy: Yeah, there’s no doubt about it as a matter of fact I I sent somebody over there to you who wasn’t doing business with Anderson Brothers Bank, their bank was a little bit dragging her feet on the PPP and you were able to help them, I think, he was probably within five days, which is unheard of. How can they get in contact with you or the bank I mean what can you share a little bit of contact information who should they call?
Bryan: Yeah, sure. The direct line is 843-712-2235 and they can email me. My email is [email protected]
Jeremy: Perfect! Bryan, I appreciate it and the contact information is gonna be in the description below. Again, my name is Jeremy Finger with Riverbend Wealth Management and pleasure speaking with Bryan Leonard with Anderson Brothers Bank.
Bryan: I appreciate that too
