Why Local Connections Still Drive Banking Success

By Corey Wrinn, Managing Director at Rivel Banking Research

Published on September 9th, 2025 in Customer Experience

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Executive Summary

Research shows that almost three quarters of consumers believe that financial institutions should support their local communities, an expectation that directly influences banking decisions and long-term loyalty.
Banks need to re-imagine their branches, not as centers for transactions or even in-person consultation on products and services, but as community hubs.
With planning and creativity, community engagement can be much more than one-way philanthropy. Many institutions have already proven that it can be a meaningful driver of business growth.

Here’s what we’re seeing in banking right now: While the industry pushes full steam ahead on digital transformation and mega-banks keep expanding their footprint, some consumers are heading in the opposite direction. They want their financial institutions to feel local, connected and genuinely invested in their communities. Consumers are actively seeking institutions they can believe in and community involvement has become a key way for an institution to signal their commitment.

The numbers back this up. Our Q3 2025 consumer survey at Rivel Banking Research found that 71% of consumers believe a financial institution should support the local community they’re a part of. This isn’t a nice-to-have preference. It’s a core expectation that directly influences banking decisions and long-term loyalty.

For bank and credit union marketers, this creates both opportunity and urgency. The question isn’t whether to engage with your community. It’s how to do it authentically and effectively. The answer starts with understanding exactly what your consumers want, then building programs that deliver real value.

What Your (Future) Customers Are Actually Asking For

Rivel’s survey didn’t just confirm that community support matters — it revealed the specific types of engagement that resonate most with consumers. When we asked what community events, workshops or services they’d like to see their bank or credit union offer, the responses were telling.

Financial literacy workshops dominated at 49%. This tells us something important — people are hungry for financial education, and they see their local bank as the trusted source to provide it. They don’t want sales pitches disguised as education. They want practical help with mortgages, retirement planning and everyday money management, preferably in-person on occasion.

Running close behind at 45% each were community charity drives and seminars on home buying and retirement planning for community branch options. Other high-interest areas included local business networking events (36%), coffee spaces for casual meetings (26%) and meeting rooms available for community groups (25%). Even local art exhibits generated interest from 21% of respondents.

While the data continues to show that customers (both retail and commercial) visit the branch only a few times a year, they do want their banks to be problem solvers, connectors and educators — not just transaction processors.

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Turning Insights Into Action

So, how do you translate these consumer preferences into programs that actually move the needle for your institution? Drive customers and members into the branch more often and build your relationships with them a little bit deeper. Here are some ideas and examples to reimagine your branch as a community hub:

Lead with financial education:

Partner with local real estate professionals for first-time homebuyer seminars
Host retirement planning workshops that break down the importance and processes behind IRAs and 401(k)s
Run small business financial management sessions for local entrepreneurs
Work with area schools on youth financial literacy programs

Create meaningful connection points:

Establish weekly “Coffee & Connect” networking hours for local business owners
Make meeting space available to community groups during off-peak hours
Spotlight a different local business each month in your lobby
Host “lunch and learn” sessions on topics your community cares about

Make community support convenient:

Serve as a collection point for food drives, school supplies and holiday toy drives
Organize volunteer opportunities that include both staff and customers
Partner with local schools to host FAFSA completion workshops

Don’t forget to promote these efforts. Share your community events and impact stories across your marketing channels — customers need to see and remember that you’re actively investing in their community’s success.

Real Examples of Strategic Community Investment

The most successful community engagement programs align directly with business objectives and produce measurable results. The American Bankers Association Foundation’s Community Commitment Awards showcase institutions that have mastered this integration.

Columbia Bank’s Advancing Access Program provided nearly $65 million in home loans and over $1.7 million in grant assistance in its first year, directly supporting their lending growth while addressing housing affordability.

Comerica Bank’s Business HQ serves over 2,400 people and has 165 enrolled members, creating a genuine community hub for business development that also generates commercial banking prospects.

Berkshire Bank’s Community Comeback Program allocated $5 billion in lending, investment and technical assistance, resulting in a 70% increase in these activities while strengthening their market presence.

This is not limited to banks, but includes credit unions also who are deeply ingrained in their communities already, but making strides to offer services not commonly found in the industry:

UW Credit Union’s Fund for Racial Equity committed $1.5 million to improve financial well-being in Wisconsin communities, specifically engaging populations historically excluded from financial services — expanding their potential member base while advancing equity goals.

These initiatives are truly strategic investments that drive business results while building community trust, ultimately allowing the institution to enter the consideration set for consumers and businesses looking for a new financial home.

The impact extends beyond individual programs to overall brand positioning. As Courtney O’Regan, SVP & Director of Marketing for Middlesex Savings Bank (MA) puts it: “As a mutual bank, our mission has always been to support the community. We support financial literacy, local nonprofits, and education because we believe that when people are supported and informed, they can make better decisions for themselves and their families. That kind of trust and connection is what helps us stand out.”

Building Genuine Community Partnerships

True community engagement requires moving beyond one-way philanthropy to genuine dialogue. The Virginia Bankers Association’s “Community Conversations” framework offers a roadmap:

Start by listening. Host dedicated sessions to understand your community’s biggest economic challenges. Skip the assumptions and ask directly.
Be transparent. Building trust requires honesty about your capabilities and limitations. It’s better to under-promise and overdeliver than the reverse.
Seek collaboration. Complex community challenges require partnerships. Work with government and nonprofit organizations to leverage everyone’s strengths.
Prioritize inclusion. Center your engagement on marginalized and low-to-moderate income populations. Proactively seek new partners to ensure dialogue reflects your community’s full diversity.
Lead with empathy. Be prepared to address negative perceptions with understanding, not defensiveness.

This approach helps manage community expectations while reducing operational and reputational risks.

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Why Community Support Actually Drives Business Results

Community engagement isn’t charity — it’s smart business strategy that delivers measurable returns:

It builds loyalty beyond rate shopping. When customers see you investing in their community’s success, they develop emotional connections that make them less likely to switch banks over minor rate differences. Research confirms that a bank’s social responsibility directly impacts consumer perceptions of service quality and relationship strength – key drivers of retention.
It differentiates you in a commodity market. While competitors compete on rates and fees, you’re competing on values and relationships. That’s much harder for large institutions to replicate at scale. Rivel’s research shows smaller banks and credit unions are actually attracting new customers at higher rates than larger competitors, despite significantly smaller marketing budgets, by leveraging local presence and reputation.
It generates authentic referrals. Community members become voluntary brand ambassadors, recommending you based on genuine contribution to their neighborhood’s wellbeing, not marketing campaigns.
It attracts better talent. Top employees, especially younger professionals, increasingly choose employers based on values alignment. Research shows employees at socially responsible companies are up to 60% more engaged with their work.
It strengthens your market. When you help local businesses succeed and residents manage finances better, you strengthen the economy you depend on. More successful businesses and financially healthy residents create more opportunities for your institution.

The Competitive Advantage of Going Local, Consistently

The data paints a clear picture — consumers want community builders, not just money managers. For institutions willing to embrace this role, the opportunity is significant and there is currently a competitive environment where brand values matter as much as value propositions.

This shift particularly benefits smaller, community-focused institutions. Your inherent proximity and direct ties to the local economy provide authentic competitive advantages that larger rivals struggle to replicate. By concentrating resources on deep, personal engagement, you can achieve brand consideration and customer acquisition that punches above your marketing budget weight.

However, community involvement alone isn’t enough. Even with the strongest local presence and most authentic community partnerships, you need to monitor how your efforts translate into brand awareness and consideration against local competitors. Consumers only bank with institutions they know and trust, and measuring that recognition is crucial for maximizing your community investment.

This is why ongoing brand research has become essential. Understanding how your community engagement efforts impact brand perception, tracking awareness levels against competitors and identifying gaps in your market positioning ensures your community strategy drives actual business results. The data from our Q3 2025 survey represents just one snapshot, but consumer expectations and competitive dynamics shift constantly, requiring continuous monitoring to stay ahead.

When you combine authentic community engagement with data-driven brand monitoring, you’re not just meeting expectations. You’re building the kind of market position that sustains business through any economic cycle. In today’s competitive landscape, being the institution that shows up consistently while tracking the impact of that presence isn’t just good marketing. It’s smart business.