Truckin' on the Western Branch

“The bureaucracy was frustrating and embarrassing when we couldn’t give our hometown customers what they needed because the bigger bank policies didn’t take into account personal knowledge of the customer,” he said.

In 1998 he and Morgan, ready to get back to doing what they wanted to do, quit their jobs and recruited the other members of their start-up team.

“The fourteen of us met and decided what each one of us would do—all based on the premise of hometown banking,” Aston said. “It was great to start from scratch. You might not know what to do, but you knew what not to do. We were able to surround ourselves with people we had confidence in and create the environment and culture we wanted to work in.” They looked at names—Old Town, Home Town, and a few more—but settled on TowneBank as the most descriptive and most versatile for signage and advertising. They sold shares and Aston remembered their simple strategy to attract shareholders and customers. “We had 4,000 shareholders and asked each to recommend five friends, but also told them don’t buy stock if you’re not going to bank here.” In the process of launching the bank, Aston and Morgan took a day off to take their wives shopping in Tysons Corner, Virginia. Bored with shopping, the two men fled to the parking lot where they first saw a new Volkswagen Beetle. It was so retro they were charmed and envisioned the little car, painted black with gold lettering, as the new bank’s company car.

“We do have a remote deposit capture system, but our customers like the Beetles and their drivers, who are like traveling tellers, all very personable and do 10,000 pickups a month,” Aston said.

TowneBank Chairman and CEO G. Robert Aston. Sequence by Sheally

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