Condo Media - January 2019 - 29

sense when common sense is not really common and
that has a history of entrepreneurship and thinking
outside the box."
From a property management perspective, Northern
can help managers with issues like collecting fees and
getting a better rate of return on investments. And if a
property has a capital-improvement project in the offing,
the bank can assist with lending or refinancing an existing loan. "Competitors may have set rates, whereas, at
Northern, everything truly is bespoke. That's where being privately held and family owned and entrepreneurial
makes a difference," Moreno says.
Northern also makes financial management easy and
convenient with online tools. For example, the bank's
systems allow managers to have deposit escrow savings
accounts for all unit owners and to get real-time data
on their balances, collect association fees through the
bank's portal, and more.
Further, Northern has a dedicated cash-management
department. When a property manager or association
trustee calls, they speak directly with one of its certified experts-as opposed to an 800-number where
they might be connected with someone who's not truly
knowledgeable in the field.
ADVANTAGES FOR ENTREPRENEURS
IN THE TRADES
Just like the associations themselves, every vendor
serving the industry has different needs, and Northern
is poised to help there, too. "We have a large segment of
clients in the trades, whether it's roofers, contractors,
developers, painters, carpenters, or HVAC," says Moreno. He points out that a lot of these businesses are family
owned and privately held-just like Northern Bank.
"In a perfect world, your profit and loss is stellar, cash
flow is always on point, there are never any dips in the
sales cycle, the individual's credit score is always perfect,
no one ever has any debt, and the business has always
performed above expectations," says Moreno. "In the
real world, there's cycles, and there's a collections process that could delay collections over 90 days."
At Northern Bank, he reports, the Mawn family remains very involved in bank operations, and they understand the challenges faced by entrepreneurs, what the
business goals are, and what the mitigating factors might
be. "Banks that are owned by stockholders, with reports
that are seen by everyone, need to perform on quarterly
earnings and not perform to their own customers,"
Moreno points out. "We perform to our customers.
They couldn't choose a better bank."
A full-service bank, Northern also offers services to
unit owners, from refinancing a personal mortgage or
taking out a home-equity loan to transitioning their
personal account from another bank.

DEDICATED TO SERVING THE COMMUNITY
Despite its growth and nationwide reach, Northern
Bank remains very much a neighborhood bank, actively
supporting its community with financial investment
and volunteer service. In all, Northern Bank employees
logged more than 1,500 volunteer hours in 2017 alone.
Heading Home, an organization dedicated to ending
homelessness in Massachusetts, is a major beneficiary.
In one ongoing campaign, volunteers from the bank furnish an apartment for homeless families. Northern has
also teamed up with 98.5 the Sports Hub radio and
Sony Michel of the New England Patriots in a "Taking
it to the House" campaign, in which the bank donates
$1,000 to Heading Home for every New England touchdown scored during the 2018-19 regular season.
Bank employees are also active in offering financial
education to Boston-area youth through such organizations as Junior Achievement, Cristo Rey, Boys &
Girls Clubs, and the YMCA. Many hold board positions
and key-member offices in nonprofits throughout
New England. And the bank contributes financially to
institutions that make a difference to its communities
through the Northern Bank Charitable Foundation.
AN AWARD-WINNING BUSINESS MODEL
Its outside-the-box approach to banking, focus on excellence, and dedication to community service have done
more than earn the loyalty of its customers. The bank
has also received top honors from prestigious sources.
For eight years running, it was named the No. 1 community bank in New England by S&P Global-and was
even named the top-rated bank in the country by that
organization in 2015.
Additionally, ICBA (Independent Community Bankers
of America) rated Northern Bank as a No. 1 bank, with
efficiency ratios among the best in the industry. And,
quarter after quarter, the bank takes pride in maintaining
a four-star "Safe & Sound" rating with BankRate.com.
According to Moreno, however, what's most important to the bank isn't awards and accolades; it's finding
new and innovative ways to help its customers. "What
makes us different is that this bank was created out
of a dissatisfaction with the status quo," he says.
"What's exciting from a banking perspective is to
truly identify what it will take to effectively run someone's banking and give them the tools that they're
going to need, whether it's a condominium association,
a property management company, a tradesman, or
an individual unit owner. We just take a very different
approach to banking."
For more information about Northern Bank, call
Oscar Moreno at (781) 569-1554, or visit www.nbtc.com.
Member FDIC.

http://www.BankRate.com http://www.nbtc.com

Condo Media - January 2019

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