Fleetwood to revamp all banks, starting with headquarters

Fleetwood Bank will be marching into 2017 with a pretty clear New Year’s resolution in mind – a plan to transform its headquarters to a bank of the future of sorts.

The primary motivation behind the renovation at 2 W. Main Street, Fleetwood, stems from the change in how people conduct their banking, according to Timothy Snyder, bank president,

“The changes we are making to the branch will improve our customer experience by eliminating the barriers that stand between us and them,” Snyder said. “Transaction counts at branches have been declining over the years, and branches have evolved into financial services centers where customers come to discuss financial matters, apply for a loan or other consultative matters.

“Removing teller lines and other items that create barriers between our customers and our staff will allow our team to own that interaction from beginning to end.”

Renovations will begin the week of Jan. 2 and continue for about eight to 12 weeks.

The branch will be open normal business hours during the renovations, and a grand opening celebration is tentatively planned for the second half of February.

The remodeling of the Fleetwood location is the kickoff of planned renovations of all five branch locations the next several years, Snyder said.

“The physical changes are being done to support our ‘universal banker’ concept,” Snyder said. “Our universal bankers are highly skilled individuals that are able to meet our customers’ varying needs. Each team member will be cross-trained so they can assist our customers with any type of financial services need.”

While changes to the bank’s physical space are critical to keeping up with the way banking has evolved, Snyder also stressed that technology is a key element to the renovation of the branch.

“You cannot do this without leveraging technology, which is why we are deploying new smart ATMs, cash recyclers and interactive video in the branch,” he said. “As more customers use technology to perform recurring transactions [such as ATMs, online and mobile banking], there is still a need for a physical location for different types of customer needs.