United Labor Bank Creates Customer Loyalty by Specializing in Serving Small Clients

United Labor Bank
Oakland, California
Asset Size: $150 Million
 
United Labor Bank uses the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco’s advances to help it remain competitive in a market dominated by larger financial institutions.
 
"Access to Bank advances has given us the opportunity to expand our lending by match-funding fixed rate loans,says Malcolm Hotchkiss, President and Chief Executive Officer of United Labor Bank, a union-owned and operated bank. "We also use advances to manage liquidity and rebalance our assets and liabilities to control interest rate risk. Advances are a truly wonderful tool for us."
 
United Labor Bank has approximately $150 million in assets and serves primarily as a business bank, focusing on multifamily and commercial real estate lending. Most of its deposits are from unions, but its credit customers are quite diverse. It currently has branches in Oakland and Long Beach and plans to expand into Sacramento and San Jose in 2006.
 
United Labor Bank specializes in serving small business clients, with less than $1 million in billings a year. "There’s a lot to be said for not being the biggest,” says Mr. Hotchkiss. "We actually listen to our customers, ask them what we are doing that is good or bad. It’s about loyalty."
 
A major benefit of Bank membership is that it gives United Labor Bank access to the worldwide capital markets.
 
"Usually, an institution our size wouldn’t get access to Wall Street funding,” Mr. Hotchkiss says. "But the Bank stays with the curve on new products that normally would not be offered to us, and that can be very useful. The Bank really levels the playing field for smaller institutions."
 
November 2005
 
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