With three decades of experience in banking, Leader Bank Senior Vice President of Business and Government Banking Marc Romvos has seen a lot in his day. A technological revolution is currently underway in the realm of business and government banking, and Marc joins host Scott Barboza to discuss these advances and how they are impacting a range of banking sectors including government, business, venture capital, property management and professional and medical services.

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Episode Transcript

Scott Barboza:
Welcome to the Building Interest Podcast, presented by Leader Bank — a series of free-flowing conversations on a wide range of banking and money related subjects. We’re here to discuss all the issues that impact your financial future. Want to buy a home started small business, secure your financial future? Or maybe you want to maximize your savings ability or get your budget in order, we can help our talks with experts and influencers across the world of banking, we’ll set you in the right direction. I’m your host, Scott Barboza. Let’s get to it.

Everybody, welcome aboard another edition of the building interest podcast, a little bit of a different look here. Today, I’m joined by Marc Romvos, Leader Bank, Senior Vice President of Business and Government Banking. Marc, welcome aboard. So great to have you here today.

Marc Romvos:
Scott, thank you. Thanks for having me. And it’s good to be back at the Seaport Innovation District.

Scott Barboza:
We were talking about this off offline, you actually used to work out of here for a little bit.

Marc Romvos:
I did, I was here when the branch first opened work with Savy and her team. We did some great things here. And it’s good to be back.

Scott Barboza:
We’ve kind of become adopted team members here, I thin,k too, which is kind of nice. So it has a very homey feel over here. I obviously just love working out of this space has kind of become our our de facto studio and but a lot of other people come in through kind of. It’s interesting with remote work, I feel like sometimes people are coming out and you kind of see people on off hours. So it’s really great. Yeah, it’s just a great atmosphere here.

Marc Romvos:
It is a great atmosphere and just walking into the branch and seeing the team members Savy, I haven’t seen them in probably close to two years. So it’s good to be back in, you know, see people in person.

Scott Barboza:
It’s great to see people in person, it’s great to have you here today, Marc. Now, you’re a particularly interesting person, you know, in three decades of banking experience, the last 11 of which have come at Leader Bank, you’ve kind of worn many hats. And what you’re working on in your team — that is quite literally, as we were talking about before growing by the day almost — gets into a lot of different areas and things that people from an external perspective might not even really think about from a perspective, we’ll get into some of those specifics here in just a little bit. But if you could just set the table and explain to people basically, you know, what your day- to-day looks like and the clients that you will liaise with on a day to day basis?

Marc Romvos:
Yeah, it’s a good question, Scott. You know, the Business and Government Banking team, you know, there’s, there’s 10 members, as part of the team, and we focus on certain verticals, there’s five certain verticals that that we concentrate on: municipality spaces is one of them; government banking; property managers, which is a big portfolio in the bank, we’re such a, you know, large residential mortgage lender; attorneys, again, with the residential side of that; and the VC [Venture Capital] space, startup companies is another vertical that is that we’ve concentrated on; and the professional medical services — doctors, dentists, those types of things. And, you know, we felt that we played well in those spaces. And we really wanted to kind of take our experience with the team and focus in on those and really provide the products and services that I think our clients are looking for, and they need. The municipality space has been a real interesting segment that we’ve concentrated on. With some of the mergers that have happened over the last couple of year, that left the void out there.

Scott Barboza:
Yeah, the local banking scene has really kind of shook up in the last 10 years or so.

Marc Romvos:
Exactly. And they’re a unique industry.And they’re really all about having that personal connection, having somebody to talk to, having somebody to pay attention to them. So, and we didn’t get into it, just dive right into it. We did a lot of homework. And I think, you know, Jay [Tuli] challenges us that, you know, find out about the vertical that you’re going to be dealing with and find what makes them tick. What are their pain points? And that’s what that’s how we started. And it’s turned out pretty good so far.

Scott Barboza:
I think that was one thing, in particular, in our previous episodes, as we talked to both Jay and Sushil [Tuli] about, you know, the genesis the bank, obviously, this 20th anniversary year, has kind of put us in that space of looking back in a lot of ways. But I think one thing that has especially rang true about the history of Leader is really being particularly in tune, from an IT and in a technological implementation perspective, the bank is very much a cooperative partner with businesses whether, again, like you’re talking about whether it’s a town treasurer working in municipalities or from, you know, the VC world, being able to make sure that the technology really caters to the needs. Talk us through that, you know, experience a little bit of how that is very much a collaborative effort in that it’s not just hey here’s a product, here’s how to use it, but we really want to partner with those clients to be able to make sure that we’re creating an experience for them that is really beneficial.

Marc Romvos:
Yeah, that’s, that’s a great point. And, you know, being a banker as long as I have, you’re pretty set in your ways. You know, here’s the product, here’s the services. And that’s it. What I’ve learned here in the last 11 years, was to think differently, and senior management, Jay, Mr. Tuli have always challenged me at least to sit there and, and think differently about how can we be a differentiator out in that marketplace. And you know, by really sitting and talking with, whether it’s a VC startup company, or treasurer, or an attorney, or property manager, finding out what we can provide them to make their jobs easier and more efficient. Hence, you know, working with partners, whether it’s a FinTech company, or our core provider, to come up with different products and services, you know, to help them with that. And I think as a bank, it’s got such an entrepreneurial spirit. And that’s what attracted me to come to Leader Bank 11 years ago, we’ve really taking it to the next level by providing some of those products and services to help our clients.

Scott Barboza:
One particular focus that I know you and your staff that again, we’ll get into that in a little bit how much your team has actually built out in the last even just year. The concentration in government banking, which I think is, for me, as a relative outsider coming into the world is largely an unknown. And I think it’s it’s kind of interesting from that perspective of I think people might forget sometimes that, you know, the government, whether it’s federal, state, local, are businesses unto themselves and have banking needs of their own. I think that’s kind of interesting from that perspective. And people might not, you know, always think of that, you know, the government does need a banking partner to be able to run a business, essentially, the business of operating the government. What is that experience like? Obviously, you’re working with, you know, treasurer’s across the region. But, you know, that’s a very … just take us behind the scenes, a little bit of how those relationships kind of occur.

Marc Romvos:
Yeah, it’s unique. It is different than any other business that I think that I’ve been involved in over the years. They are just like any other business, right? They have payroll, you know, they have to pay bills. You know, but on that scale, you know, you’re talking about cities and towns that have, you know, hundreds of 1000s of employees. So, to be able to provide them the basic services is one thing.But to be able to provide them products and services that can help them manage their cash, and pay bills, and pay their employees in a more efficient way, I think that’s something that other banks, or from what I’ve seen in the past, don’t really kind of focus in on by going in and having conversation with the treasurer and saying, “How can we make your job and your life easier? What can we do? What products could we build, you know, to help you with that process?” And that’s been a real eye-opening, not only for us, but also for the treasurers. The feedback is nobody’s ever come in and really asked me, you know, how do you know what can how you can make my life a lot easier? So that’s exciting to tell you honestly.

Scott Barboza:
From that perspective, I think when people think of banking, banking is largely and you said it off the jump there, you know, kind of a legacy institution, and “this is the way we’ve done things, so this is the way it is.” I don’t want to, you know, say anything untoward, but sometimes people do look at government and being like, this is something that’s rather staid and very fixed in its ways. But I think what we’re telling here is a story that’s very different from that, that is very forward-thinking in trying to find solutions that will work going forward.

Marc Romvos:
They are. I mean, you still have your legacy people that you know, have been there and used to doing things a certain way. But there’s a change happening in government banking. There is a you know, a new group of people a younger, you know, set of …

Scott Barboza:
More tech-savvy?

Marc Romvos:
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Definitely tech-savvy. You know, one of the products that, you know, we’ve been talking to them about is the Digital Escrow to help with their trust accounts. And they have hundreds of them, you know, some of them have 130 others have, you know, 30. But to be able to open and close, and move money at their convenience, instead of having to do a lot of paperwork has really opened, you know, some eyes on these for these treasurers and to kind of help them with that process. So, those are the type of things that I think as we do, as a bank progress and we get more, and add more clients on the municipality side will help us, and we’ll also get the word out there for us.

Scott Barboza:
You just brought up something, Marc, that I know you and your team have been working very diligently on of recent, which is the Digital Escrow program through Leader Bank. Could you walk us through that product a little bit, which is very, very new here?

Marc Romvos:
Yeah, it is very new. And, you know, working with one of our FinTech partners, we were part of the development team with several other banks that helped develop this this product. And also, we brought in clients, both on the government banking side, the attorney side, other verticals that could probably benefit from from this product. And we built it around them. You know, what, you know … how can we build this product to make it easier? And essentially, how do you take money that needs to be segregated out for whether it’s different clients for for themselves, 1031 companies, different municipalities, like for your school lunches, you know, police departments, that type of thing. That takes a lot of work — both on their part and on the banking side, because it’s paper intensive.

Scott Barboza:
A lot of programs that have a lot of, you know, whether it’s government earmarks, things of that nature …

Marc Romvos:
You might need to set aside and keep track of those. So, you know, that’s how we develop the product to come up in, in try to digitize the process by, you know, building a portal where they can go in, open, close accounts, move money in and out efficiently.

Scott Barboza:
Marc, talk about some of those partnerships that you did mention. You know, this is very much a collaborative effort. It’s not as though, you know, Leader is just going out there alone. We’re working with a lot of, you know, third-party vendors to be able to not only operationalize those products, but but bring them to scale.

Marc Romvos:
Yeah. And it’s good. It’s, you know, I use a lot of sports analogies, so forgive me for that.

Scott Barboza:
I know we’re akin on that.

Marc Romvos:
So it’s, you know, it’s a team within the team. I mean, so I mean, you have the team, to put in context, the team Leader Bank, and then we have another team out there, that’s one of our partners of FinTech, ZSuite. That’s who we partner with up to kind of help us develop, you know, this Digital Escrow product. And, you know, with their, their expertise in the FinTech world, and bringing kind of the basic, you know, banking needs and taking it to the next level, you know, digitizing it, you know, making it easier for customers that that process was really important. It was eye-opening for me. In banking, you know, it’s simple blocking and tackling, right, you know, you here’s your pie, here’s, here’s what you do …

Scott Barboza:
Hit the hole hard!

Marc Romvos:
Exactly. You know, here, it’s, you know, by bringing in a company, like ZSuite and others, you know, they deal with different types of businesses out there, and they have that expertise that, you know, banks don’t. And I think if you’re not looking at companies like that, to help you put products like this in place, I think you’re missing the boat. I think it’s important, especially as we grow and this world gets more tech-savvy.

Scott Barboza:
Right. Now, when using the team analogy that you brought up, Marc, it’s the beginning of baseball season. The most wonderful time of the year, right? Talk about a little about your bench, who’s coming off the bench in that scenario. Your bench is not only I would say deepening, as we go through here. But also because there are so many things that fall into your purview, finding people that not only bring, like the technical acumen and the relationships, but also that, you know, delve directly into those worlds that are that are disparate from each other. Talk me through that process and what people you know, coming from the outside that might be, you know, looking to join Leader Bank, from that perspective, what can we offer to them, but then also from a client perspective that might want to be working with the bank, you know, what they’re going to be able to expect when once they become a client.

Marc Romvos:
Yeah, I will say I am fortunate to have a great team and, you know, we talk about this all the time, it’s just not one person. It’s really a team effort, the dedication and the commitment that these my team members, you know, provide is just amazing. They listen. You know, they go out, they do their research, the feedback is fantastic. It’s not, you know, one person’s way, or it’s really a collaborative effort, you know, to put something together and I think that shines through to our clients. They see that they’re committed to it, they’re dedicated to it. And we’ve brought a couple of people in from outside, from other banks, and, you know, so far, it’s like a breath of fresh air for them, coming in and seeing how we work, how engaged we are, not only with our external clients, but our internal clients — our internal team members, I should say. And everybody’s always willing to go that extra step, or that extra mile, to get things done, to really, you know, make sure that that client experience is exactly according to our brand Bible that we put out there. So yeah, it’s been it, the team is great. I mean, I can’t say enough about them.

Scott Barboza:
I know, we covered off, you know, from the five principal verticals that report up into you, I think we’ve covered a couple of those already. But let’s fill in the blanks for some of those other folks that might be out there that would be interested in working with you and your team.

Marc Romvos:
Yeah, sure. It’s, you know, the property managers is, you know, is the other one. You know, and providing them with a cash management services that they need to, you know, collect rents, security deposits, you know, those types of things, their main operating accounts. The vertical, with the VC and the startup companies … it’s an interesting, interesting vertical, in the sense where these are real entrepreneurs, so they don’t know a lot about banking. And the nice thing, and the fun thing about working with people like that is, you know, I say this a lot. There are two things that a lot of businesses have, okay, it’s a good accountant, and a good attorney

Scott Barboza:
Bread and butter.

Marc Romvos:
Right, exactly. The third thing that I see a lot, not only in that vertical, but in other verticals, is a banker. A lot of them don’t have a banker, or a good banker, where they can go to and say, “Hey, you know, can you help me with this? You know, how do I do this?” So we stress that a lot within our team is to really, you know, have that foundation has to be that, how can I put it? That trusted adviser, you know, to our clients? And I think that’s important in the banking industry. And I think, I think the banking industry has missed that — missed the boat on that a little bit.

Scott Barboza:
The personal touch?

Marc Romvos:
A personal touch, the relationship. You know, the bank is a commodity, I mean, products and services pretty much the same. It’s, I think the, you know, delivery: the follow-up, the having multiple points of contact, or different channels that a client or business customer can interact with the bank. And I think we do that. We do that fairly well. I think we do a good job with that. And I think it’s always constant to make sure that’s forefront in our thoughts.

Scott Barboza:
Thinking back to the conversation that I had with Sushil Tuli, in our episode together, and he talked about the entrepreneurial spirit and how much he really enjoys getting in the dirt with entrepreneurs that are coming to him and asking him, “How do I go about this?” I think, thinking back in that, you know, conversation, as you’re talking about people coming from a VC, entrepreneurship background, you know, they’re the thoughts, the ideas, the innovators, the disruptors of the world. [They’re] maybe not, like you said, always thinking from a banking perspective of how do I get this thing off the ground? How much of that, you know, for people in that space that are coming to the bank and wanting to find that trusted partner, as you said — how much of that is a collaborative effort?

Marc Romvos:
Oh, I think it’s, it’s critical. It’s important, it has to be. You know, we deal you know, from the cash management, you know, treasury, you know, just deposit side of things, but we pull our other team members are lenders. You know, we’re top SBA lender here in Massachusetts. So, the great thing about that is we find ways to try to do something where, if you don’t, you know, if you don’t fit into a box, then you’re kind of out of luck. That’s not the way we look at things here. It’s like, we try to put something together that makes sense, not only for the bank, but for the client also. And at the end of the day, sometimes it doesn’t work. But what I’ve I found in the past is you have those conversations, and I’ve had clients come back and say, “Thank you for that conversation.” You tell them you know, you’ve you’ve kind of coached them what they need to do to get to that next level, then they come back to you. So now you’ve got a client that, you know …

Scott Barboza:
For life.

Marc Romvos:
For life. Right. Yeah. So that, that I think is critical. And I think it’s part of our success here at Leader Bank.

Scott Barboza:
I think, speaking of success, maybe wrap it up with a little bit of just a little insight into your team, the people that have filled out that bench for you and what they bring to the table individually.

Marc Romvos:
Yeah, individually. You know, so have Sumit, Tripti and Susan, who just recently joined us there. They’re my business banking officers, and they’re the ones out meeting with clients on a day … day-in and day-out really trying to, you know, move clients from other institutions, financial institutions and get them over to the the Leader Bank family. And I’ve got a great operational staff also with Christopher and Angela, who handles all our account opening, our client … you know, helping them with customer service for the for the clients. Liza and Mark, who’s on our digital banking side, so anything to do with online banking for businesses, some of our products, our wire manager, ACH manager, our positive pay product, so they handle all that. And then we have a lockbox specialist, John Lavallee, who has been in the industry for over 40 years, and just the institutional experience that he brings to the team has been amazing. So it’s a well-rounded team. We learn something every day, which is exciting I think, from a banking perspective. It’s people … really don’t you know, how can you learn? Banking is banking. But we learn something, at least I do, and I know the other team members learn something every day from our clients. And that makes it fun.

Scott Barboza:
Speaking of learning, I think that’s why we’re here. And that’s why we’re trying to do this. And, Marc, thank you so much for joining us, shedding some light into your little world. And obviously, if people are interested, reach out to you and your team.

Marc Romvos:
That’d be great. Thank you, Scott. Thanks for the opportunity, and it’s great speaking with you.

Scott Barboza:
It was great. We’ll talk soon. Thanks, Marc.

Marc Romvos:
Thank you.

Scott Barboza:
For more information on today’s subject, visit LeaderBank.com. In addition to past episodes, you can also find our corresponding blog entries there for more insights. This podcast is a production of Leader Bank, NA. Equal Housing Lender. Member FDIC. NMLS #449250.