We interrupt your InBusiness reading enjoyment for a quick pop quiz.
How many bank and credit union branches are in the Madison area?
Maybe 100? Maybe 200?
Actually, it’s about 540. Crazy, right?
What’s even crazier is that one bank, with just one of those 540 branches, has grown to a half-a-billion-dollar institution in just 23 years. And they’ve done it by challenging the conventional wisdom of the ways that financial institutions thrive.
Throw down branches on every block to dominate the landscape? Nope — that just costs a lot of money that clients and shareholders will eventually pay for.
Buy up a bunch of little banks to expand your footprint? Sell to a big national bank? That makes clients uncomfortable, and rightfully so.
So, Oak Bank is just here minding its own business — with one branch in Fitchburg but serving clients throughout Dane County. No plans to take over the world, no logo changes in the middle of the night. Kind of stubborn, right?
“It’s really not about branches,” says Oak Bank founder and CEO Bob Gorsuch. “It’s about people who stick around, develop strong relationships, get involved in their communities. That could describe a lot of people, but this particular team at Oak Bank has an uncanny knack for creative problem-solving when it comes to personal or business finance.”
Gorsuch is very proud of the low turnover at Oak Bank. In his long career, he’s seen hundreds of bankers take the bait of “Assistant Branch Manager” at the big banks. At Oak Bank, he can walk around the office and point to dozens of people who have been with him since Oak’s turn-of-the-century founding.
“You know, when we started, we saw so much potential in Fitchburg, and we wanted to serve that area with a unique focus on relationships and problem-solving,” Gorsuch said. “We were right about Fitchburg’s future, and we’ve helped each other grow. Once we proved the high-service business model, we were able to venture out and serve clients well beyond Fitchburg.”
Even with that one branch. Out of 540.
Gorsuch says he can drive through a small Wisconsin town and immediately tell something about the strength and impact of its local bank. Is it thriving with commerce, retail, and industry? Is it bright and clean and vibrant? Are there nice parks and libraries? Is employment high and the population growing?
“We think about that eye test all the time,” he says, “because I’m not the only banker out there driving through small towns and assessing the strength of the local bank just by looking.”
So, maybe the “put-a-branch-on-every-corner” approach to bank growth isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Maybe it really all starts and ends with people who trust and care for each other.
