(Opinion) The Merrimack Valley runs on trust, not just transactions

BANKING

By: Stephen Jaskelevicus

Today’s consumers don’t just want convenience. They expect it, whether it is speed, digital tools, quick answers, and the ability to do routine tasks from their phones.

Yet, when the stakes are high, it turns out they don’t only want frictionless service; they want reassurance and familiarity. When one of our neighbors in the Merrimack Valley is trying to keep a business alive, make payroll, buy a building or decide whether to expand, they want to know they can sit across from someone who understands the local terrain and can talk honestly about risk, options and next steps.

In other words, they want to be known. It’s easy to dismiss that as sentimentality, but this isn’t just about business; it’s about human nature.

As someone who grew up in the Merrimack Valley and now leads a bank that four generations of my own family has relied on for years, I’ve seen how conducting business locally has real consequences for our communities. Our local economies work better when business owners can partner with leaders in the private and public sectors that understand the environment they operate in.

It’s these local leaders who can connect dots across sectors, who know what is happening on Main Street as well, who can see the relationship between a housing project, a downtown branch, a local employer or a school partnership, and the broader promise of a place like downtown Haverhill, Massachusetts.

The redevelopment of the city’s downtown is a project that gained momentum because local investors and City Hall were willing to commit early and visibly, helping create confidence for others to participate — the same kind of commitment reflected in our investment in downtown Haverhill and the reopening of our One Merrimack Street branch at White’s Corner. That is how local development often works. It is not driven only by abstract flows of investment funds. It’s driven by signals, trust and the willingness of institutions to act as community participants rather than distant vendors.

And that is precisely what gets lost when decision-making moves too far away.

The Merrimack Valley has never been purely transactional. The business community here has proven time and time again that it wants to support small businesses, strengthen downtowns, encourage local investment, and give residents and business owners alike confidence that someone understands what they are building.

Rather than just a balance sheet, we see the employer whose family has been a customer for three generations. We see the construction company that has helped build housing across the region and quietly donates to local causes whenever asked. We see which clients are feeling the pressure of rising material costs, which projects might revive a shopping and business area, and which entrepreneurs are not quite ready for traditional financing but could succeed with the right bridge and the right advice.

Whether it’s community banks, local developers, regional venture funds or community foundations, these players deploy capital based on knowledge of people and place, not just data.

National developers, banks or trade groups are less likely to understand what our community needs to thrive. They are less likely to see the second- and third-order effects of a decision. And they are less likely to make people feel that they are dealing with someone who has any real stake in the outcome.

As an example, it was Pentucket Bank’s deep belief in downtown Haverhill’s renaissance that gave us the conviction 10 years ago to sign the first long-term lease at White’s Corner, part of what would become the Harbor Place mixed-use development. Local investment often begins with that kind of conviction and seeing potential in a place before spreadsheets catch up.

In the good times, consumers want convenience. For us, that means the ability to open a bank account from your couch, deposit a check with your phone and get instant answers from a virtual assistant.

But the deeper question facing all of our communities isn’t about convenience. It’s about judgment, and whether the people making economic decisions still understand the communities those decisions affect.

When it comes to economic development in the Merrimack Valley and beyond, something essential gets lost when decisions are centralized and treated like a numbers game. Data can tell you a great deal about a borrower. What it cannot do is understand a place.

That is why local decision-making still matters.

Stephen Jaskelevicus, a lifelong Haverhill, Mass., resident, is president and CEO of Pentucket Bank, which has New Hampshire locations in Salem and Hampstead. Top of Form