Bankers are worth more than blue cheese

Greetings! Welcome to what I hope will be an informative, engaging and entertaining column on subjects ranging from bank ownership to non-sufficient funds fees to budgeting for a home. My name is Joshua Riggins. I am the president of Farmers and Mechanics Federal Savings Bank and a lifelong resident of Greene County. If you have any subjects you would like me to cover or questions you would like me to address, please feel free to e-mail me at jriggins@famf.bank.

In ‘A Tale of Two Cities”, Charles Dickens compared the banking establishment, and its crusty curmudgeons of his day to moldy cheese, ‘When they took a young man into Tellson’s London house, they hid him somewhere till he was old. They kept him in a dark place, like a cheese, until he had the full Tellson flavour and blue-mould upon him. Then only was he permitted to be seen, spectacularly poring over large books, and casting his breeches and gaiters into the general weight of the establishment.’

There may be a similar sentiment in the American consumer, as far less than 50 percent of the American public has great confidence in the American banking system. Years of complex forms, unknown fees and aftershocks from a banking crisis not quite 15 years past, have combined to give the perception that we bankers are not worth much more than blue cheese.

After 12 years in the industry, it is my belief that this perception is unwarranted. As a local financial institution, Farmers and Mechanics cares for and depends upon the success of our communities. We exist to serve.

Therefore, it is my hope that the information we’ll learn together through this column will help knock out the cheese stench a bit and build your trust in the many financial institutions (approx. 9000 nationwide) which support our nation’s economy, especially your only local financial institution: Farmers and Mechanics Federal.

In my next column we’ll explore the question, Who Owns Your Bank?

Joshua Riggins is the president of Farmers and Mechanics Federal Savings Bank and a lifelong resident of Greene County. If you have any subjects you would like him to cover, or questions you would like him to address, please feel free to e-mail Joshua at jriggins@famf.bank.