Business

<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Mike Benbow, Business Editor benbow@heraldnet.com   Published: Monday, April 6, 2009 Bankers aren't all wealthy and evil By Mike Benbow, Herald Columnist The worldwide recession has had some terrible effects on most workplaces. Employees everywhere have had to toil longer and harder, have seen friends lose their paychecks and have had to live with the stress that theirs could be the next to go. Nearly everyone is facing tough times these days. But some people have it worse than others. In some cases, jobs that used to be on the high side of respectable have turned despicable in some people's eyes. I'm thinking now about bankers, who've turned from revered to reviled. Big bankers, with their millions in bonuses, their golden parachutes and their budget-busting retirement packages, have angered ordinary folks around the world. Last week, they were the talk of the Group of 20 summit of world leaders meeting to talk about their economies. One report said many blamed the world's economic troubles on the "casino capitalism" prevalent in the financial systems in the United States and Britain. And they pushed for legislation that linked the pay of big bankers with their long-term performance. If you think I'm about to disagree with all that, you're wrong. I'm not losing any sleep over what's been happening these days to bad bankers at big banks. But what about people who work at the smaller, community banks? They've been dealing with the same problems and have been tarred with the same brush these days, but they aren't getting the big bucks and they aren't the root of the world's financial problems. I talked about that last week with Carol Nelson, the president and chief executive of Cascade Financial Corp., the holding company for Everett-based Cascade Bank. Nelson said she hates whiners and doesn't want to be perceived as one. But she added that she wanted to stand up for a business that's getting smacked down a lot lately. "There's this mob mentality that is building," she said. "And I don't want it to sideswipe community banks." Nelson noted that being a banker used to be a respected position that evoked pride. "But people think of bankers as something bad today," she said. "People think of banks as evil." Nelson notes that faceless institutions are easy to hate and she adds that community banks are filled with people who sit in the pew behind us at church or coach our kids in Little League. "We're trying to put food on the table," she said of bank employees. The media in general has inundated people lately with the bad deeds of big banks, Nelson said. She is particularly critical of cable TV networks such as CNBC, which she said has turned financial information into "entertainment thinly disguised as news." Nelson understands that people are concerned about losses at big and small banks, about their plummeting stock prices and whether their deposits are safe. But again, she says community banks are a different animal than the big ones. Some of the bigger banks lost vast amounts of money because they became factories to provide mortgage loans to people who couldn't afford to buy a home, Nelson said. She added that was not the case with community banks. Nelson said banks in general are being criticized these days for not loaning enough money to get the economy going. She said community banks have money to lend, but the poor economy has generally made people cut back on their bank debt. Cascade is the only local bank that has received federal funds under what's called the TARP program, so I asked how she's been spending it. She said it's being used to back the typical variety of bank loans. "It's allowed us to continue to lend to existing customers and to look for new customers," she said of the $39 million the bank received. She also noted that the program (for which the bank will pay interest and stock to the government) has helped the bank grow. Cascade recently announced that it would be starting a branch in Edmonds with a banking team that used to manage the branch there for Washington Mutual, which was recently purchased by JPMorgan Chase & Co. Nelson said she's wanted to open a branch in Edmonds for five years and that she expects the former WaMu team will bring a lot of depositers with them. "The (TARP funds) help make me feel comfortable that I can do things like that," she said. I should mention that participation in the TARP program means that Nelson won't be allowed to get a bonus from the bank, but she's not whining about that. She just hopes that you won't paint all bankers with the same brush. "There are a lot of people trying to do the right thing," she said. Mike Benbow: 425-339-3459; benbow@heraldnet.com. READER COMMENTS Be the first to comment. You must be a registered user and verify your e-mail address to post comments to blogs or articles on HeraldNet. To register, click here. To read other terms and conditions, click here. Log out

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