Amcore Bank…Community Bank in a Big City?

Phil Aderton, Commercial Relationship Manager, Amcore Bank, (www.amcore.com) and I recently met for breakfast.  He shared with me the “community bank” concept of Amcore Bank…When I first “heard” the concept, it made no sense to me i.e. how could a bank in a “big city” (such as Chicago) be a community bank?  My idea of the community bank was the small-town banker, who knew everyone in town, and lent on the basis of a gentlemen’s handshake…turns out, Amcore is basing their business growth on getting their customers connected to other Amcore customers to assist each other in ways simply beyond banking i.e. going to the hometown banker who used to point you in a direction if the small town businessperson (e.g. the farmer) needed assistance with business challenges beyond banking-related issues…very interesting concept in today’s world of, many times, not high-touch, but high-tech!  They are building a community business support system just as we are building small business marketing systems in Chicago and Naperville!  Systems…what a great idea!