Liberty is implementing new products and services as part of its $1 million investment over 18 months for new systems that enable the launch of a virtual institution that allows individual and commercial customers to process checks or make deposits from home or work. Customers can now get a loan via the Internet with a faster turnaround time. Liberty’s strong earnings in recent years allowed it to make the technology investment despite the sour economy. Last year it had profits of $2.95 million, versus $2.2 million in 2010. Its assets rose to $558 million, up a robust $105 million from 2010. Described as a “visionary†by peers and financial services experts, McDonald has long kept Liberty in step with changing technology whether it’s installing ATMs or launching online banking. And at the age of 68, he’s not looking to slow down yet.
Technological Reinvention
Over the past decade, McDonald says Liberty realized that technological change was accelerating at such a fast clip that the bank had to gain a better understanding of the rapidly evolving environment. Liberty had to grasp the current and future market changes. To compound matters, Liberty faced the challenge of competing with larger companies in the financial services space that had much bigger budgets and were making similar moves. It was also in an environment where consumer buying habits were evolving and becoming more demanding for the latest goods and services.
So in 2005 and 2006, the bank began to hire some 16 young people in their 20s, and while teaching them the banking industry, picked their brains for advice on how to help the bank become more technology driven. The bank also hired about a dozen consultants to assist. “We were looking for them to give us new and better ways of developing our products to meet the needs of a new market we’re going to have to serve in the next 10 to 20 years,†McDonald says.
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