Enjoy personalized service and quick, flexible decision-making with a truly local bank

When local business owners do business with Lakeside Bank, they enjoy the benefit of an important edge: Nimble, local decision-making.

Doing business with a big bank with headquarters and decision makers based a thousand miles away can not only be frustrating and time consuming, it could also make or break a business, especially a small one. 

Mike Harmison, president and CEO of Lakeside Bank offered the following scenario to illustrate the point:

“Let’s say you want to bid on a contract and you know you’ll need some credit because your suppliers will need to be paid 60 to 90 days before you obtain your money for the project. You provide three years of financial statements and wait to hear back from the bank. As the deadline draws near, you call the bank only to discover the person you’ve been doing business with – not a decision-maker – is still waiting to hear from corporate, or that corporate is no longer extending that type of credit in this market.”

 Many banks call themselves local. Some may merely have a local branch. Not Lakeside Bank. It’s truly local.

Lakeside Bank officers, staff and board of directors live and work in Southwest Louisiana. Banking with Lakeside means customers enjoy the benefit of a face-to-face with a lender who makes decisions based on the merit of the request and understands the unique business climate and opportunities at work in Southwest Louisiana today. 

“Big banks have their best interest at heart, not yours,” Harmison said. “At Lakeside Bank, that’s not the case. The success of our business depends on the success of yours.”

 Harmison said Lakeside local banking also has advantages for consumers. Never pay an ATM fee at any ATM location of any bank, anywhere. Enjoy more personalized and attentive service. Large banks have begun to substitute credit card applications for certain loan products Lakeside Bank continues to offer. 

During a time when big banks are closing locations, Lakeside Bank is opening a new branch in Sulphur to make it more convenient for consumers and business owners on both sides of the river. 

“This makes good business sense for what is happening with industrial expansion in our market today,” says Harmison. “We understand the growth taking place and the resulting banking needs on a local level because we’re a local bank. That’s why we’re opening in Sulphur.”  

Big banks aren’t just closing locations; they’re relying more on computers and less on personnel. 

“When you walk into certain banks, you might see only one person.” Harmison said. They have stopped offering safe deposit boxes because having safe deposit boxes requires personalized attention and service.” 

Banking locally with Lakeside Bank means taking advantage of quick, flexible, local decision making, keeping dollars at work at home, more personalized and attentive service and banking with the neighbors who support local business and community organizations. Plus, Lakeside Bank customers benefit from the same technology and security of big-name banking.  

“Sure, if you’re the owner of a Fortune 500 company that’s traded on the New York Stock Exchange and operating in six countries, by all means choose a big bank,” Harmison said. “If you’re not, choose Lakeside, a local bank whose fortune rises and falls with yours and who will work with you to ensure your success.”

Karen Quinilty, Lakeside Vice President/lender meets with a business client