Sign Banking Document New Jersey Now

Industry sign banking new jersey word now

[Music] we're now joined by one of my favorite bankers favorite people uh lucia dinopoli gibbons is the metro new york new jersey division executive of commercial banking at wells fargo good to see you my friend good to see you too steve it's a highlight of my dad let's let's do this you're functioning you're working you're getting things done but my question is this you and i have talked about leadership for a couple decades how challenging is it leading in the banking world these days we could change that question to how challenging is it to lead in this covet environment you know steve i look i've read all your books and i followed all your advice over the years and um you know it's about staying connected to people right and doing it in different ways one of the benefits i had was for the last six years i was running a business up and down the east and certainly i was traveling to see people but more often than not i was doing meetings via you know some type of technology and via the phone so i'm very very comfortable with it so it's about making connections with people more often than not um allowing some space for them to talk about you know how they're feeling and how everything that's happening is impacting them you know me i love leadership so it's been great to exercise those skills to help people during this time but you also love connecting with people and that's a big part of who you are and your success so i'm also curious about this dramatically since say let's say for friday march 13th 2020. how has the banking industry changed it's interesting so first i would say we were making major investments in technology uh platforms and people pre-covered all of that is accelerated dramatically because consumers and businesses um have really adopted all of those new tools out of necessity so those investments are accelerating so i'd say banks are becoming more like technology companies than anything else the other interesting thing steve is that despite of you know low to no interest rate environment banks are awash and deposits right now because the savings rate for both consumers and businesses is up people are stowing away the rainy day fund right which is a really really good thing and then lastly i would say now more than ever our customers and prospects need us they need our insight our advice um our credit uh tools and technology to help them get through this pandemic and hopefully to a much brighter future you know let's do this first i want to say that wells fargo one of the significant supporters of what we do and have been supporting public broadcasting for a long time but part of that and the commitment to the community goes to this open for business fund what is the open for business fund and why should the average person care about it lucia i'm so excited that our company has done that so the open for business fund was created with the 400 million dollars in fees collected through uh making ppp loans right which are helping businesses get through this pandemic and right here in new jersey um we have funded i'm going to look down just for a second it's the greater newark enterprise corporation for 250 000 and the union county economic development corporation for 500 000 we're supporting non-profits that are supporting minority-owned businesses so i'm excited that we've done that why it matters we listen in order for our business to thrive businesses and people have to thrive and you know this steve small businesses have been so hard hit by what's happened uh during the course of the past year we have to do everything we can to make sure that businesses survive and get through and that people survive and get through otherwise what good is our business we're only as good as the communities that we serve you know along those lines it's so interesting lucia we've talked to many business leaders small business big business medium-sized business talk about their struggles challenges philosophical but relevant question how much do you believe the government is responsible for helping you talk about what your bank is doing other banks doing important things as well do you believe the government has an important role to help business during these very tough times i absolutely believe i i believe everyone has a role certainly government has a role the pay uh paycheck protection program that's right was good for small business and we played a huge role in that there are companies though that are not going to survive right infection rates are spiking again and uh consumers and businesses need another injection of funds um some of them to help survive uh what's happening so it would be great to see the government come together and decide on a second stimulus program i will tell you that from an economic perspective the forecast that we're making don't assume that because it's so uncertain at this point do not assume that you do not assume that we do not assume that it's too uncertain at this point it's too uncertain at this point so you know 30 seconds left you use the word uncertainty what is the impact of the tremendous amount of uncertainty and having to make the business decisions that you and your colleagues have to make every day i would say let me i'm going to turn that around and say that businesses um really stood in place for a while given the great uncertainty we have more certainty now steve we're closer to a vaccine and therapeutics that we've ever been and we are seeing certain customers that are doing well take advantage of opportunities by making acquisitions buying real estate um you know doing those kinds of things if they have the wherewithal to do it because people are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel but again there's the have-nots that are not in that place and they are ensuring that they have liquidity and working with us uh to ensure that liquidity so they can get through the other side well said uh by the way i remind folks as we talked to lucha we're taping on the 17th of november it'll be seen the rest of this year into 2021 so the vaccine right um that it's safe that it's accessible and people get it hey lucia it's great seeing you next time we'll see each other in person in a studio god willing and we'll talk that way thank you i look forward to it steve thank you so much you got it we'll be right back right after this one on one with steve adubato has been a production of the caucus educational corporation funding has been provided by horizon blue cross blue shield of new jersey pseg md advantage insurance company adp the healthcare foundation of new jersey the northward center johnson and johnson nj best and by the adler aphasia center promotional support provided by cianj and commerce magazine and by nj on air choosing a new family doctor can be confusing check with your health insurer to see which physicians near you participate with your plan find out which hospitals the doctor uses and who covers when the 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