How First American's Entrepreneurial Banking Approach Helps Businesses Grow

Benzinga will be holding its annual Benzinga Global Fintech Awards, a day of dealmaking, networking, and recognition in the financial technology space, on Nov. 10, 2020.

In recognition of those disruptive innovators creating positive and diverse change within the financial services space, Benzinga chatted with Brian Hagan, Florida Market President at First American Bank.

About First American Bank

Preferences for banking have changed tremendously; consumers now favor personalized services with digital and mobile functionality.

Founded in 1901, First American Bank is an employee-owned, consumer-focused bank provider. The company is big enough to cater to complex banking needs, but small enough to maintain active and personalized relationships with customers.

In the simplest way possible: First American merges traditional values with forward-looking financial services philosophies, helping meet the needs of savers, borrowers, and businesses in the 21st century.

Core Product Portfolio

“We’re entrepreneurial.”

First American comes as a strong and stable financial institution, catering to the personal, business, and wealth lines of business.

The company’s core solutions and services fall under the umbrella of asset-based lending, treasury and wealth management, leveraged lending, and more.

“We have about $5 billion in assets,” said Hagan. “We’re a family-owned bank focused on growing businesses.”

Use Case, Recent Developments

In light of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, the digital transformation in banking accelerated.

As a result, First American redesigned its bank branches to eliminate teller lines and deliver more personalized services.

“We’re training our personal bankers to deliver more products from a desktop, rather than a teller line,” Hagan said. “We’ve also done a lot of education events in-person, and we’re converting those to a more virtual world where we’re doing more webinars, online seminars, video content.”

Additionally, the company has amped up its advisory services, helping guide long-term investors during the market volatility.

“We’re advising our newer investors in the market to get in over time and look for some of those dips,” Hagan noted during a discussion regarding personalized wealth management strategies.

“We expect to continue focusing on the investor who needs significant coordination in a very complicated life. We think we’re uniquely able to understand by virtue of being a business bank.”

Innovation Outlook

“I think our forte will continue to be personal touch and the advice that is required of somebody with very complex needs, such as the privately-owned business owner.”

Going forward, First American aims to offer greater depth of service, in-line with emerging preferences for digital and mobile banking. Additionally, the company aims to hone in on product innovation, specifically in advisory and investment management.

“We think that an organization our size will become more unique and that the economic constraints we’re facing now will drive a lot more consolidation in the banking industry. So a bank that is small enough to have experts available in person, but large enough to have a number of experts in various disciplines is going to become rare.”

To learn more about First American, click here.