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Banks want to be all things to their business customers. In addition to providing loans and lines of credit, they want to be the place where company owners come for business checking and savings accounts, cash management and other commercial services, as well as personal banking for themselves and their employees.
"In general, community banks strive to get the total relationship," said Douglas Manditch, chairman and CEO of Empire National Bank in Islandia. "It's better for the bank - it lets us see exactly what is going on with the business, so we're not guessing."
When customers initially come to a bank for one service - often a loan or line of credit - banks typically start the process of trying to bring them aboard for everything else. But not every business wants to put all its eggs in one basket.
"Sometimes customers will prefer to have two or more banks, so they have alternatives," Manditch said. "They might not trust one bank to always be there for them, especially after the economic downturn."
There is also some degree of inertia that keeps business customers from moving all their accounts to one bank, said Frank Filipo, executive vice president and COO of Riverhead-based Suffolk County National Bank.
"It's not an insurmountable task, but with the increasing world of electronic banking, there...