New Valley Bank & Trust gears up for launch in Massachusetts, selects new lendtech
New Valley Bank & Trust team
New Valley Bank & Trust, a new bank in Massachusetts, is working towards obtaining a bank charter and federal deposit insurance. It is also currently in the process of completing a funding round and plans to open its first branch later this year.
The bank was set up “by a diverse group of results-driven founders, investors and professionals capitalising on the economic momentum of the region each of us calls home”, it says on its website.
It promises to offer personalised services and “best-in-class product suites that are thoughtfully designed to elevate the financial prosperity of customers”.
The bank’s founder and chairman is attorney Frank P. Fitzgerald, who founded The Bank of Western Massachusetts in the mid-1980s and grew it to over $1 billion in assets by 2009 (when the bank was sold to Peoples’ United Bank).
Jeff Sullivan is president and CEO. He has over 30 years of financial services experience, and previously served as COO and chief lending officer at two local community banks in New England.
Kate Gallo Megraw is the bank’s CIO and COO. She moved from United Bank, a large regional community bank, where she spent six years in a variety of tech and operational roles, most recently as director of IT planning and portfolio management.
New Valley Bank & Trust sees its competitive advantage over large banks in its “authentic commitment to accountability and responsiveness”.
It explains: “Our robust digital platform is coupled with local decision-makers capable of moving in real-time to keep pace with a business community that is vibrant and growing.”
For its technology, New Valley Bank & Trust has selected Baker Hill‘s NextGen for its commercial and small business lending operations. Baker Hill says its technology will enable the bank to originate commercial and SME loans and manage risk “all within a single platform”.
The vendor also highlights the system’s “intuitive, mobile-responsive architecture, fluid workflows and robust decision engine”. It will integrate “seamlessly” with the bank’s core processing system and reduce duplicate data entry.
“As a new institution, we are committed to embracing innovations that prioritize responsiveness and drive opportunity for our customers, especially for those digitally-driven,” states Sullivan. “To stay true to that commitment, we chose to partner with Baker Hill because of its proven experience and history in commercial lending.”
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