By Colleen K. Hamilton

"We have the capital for stability. We can offer any product. We have all the latest technology. And we focus on the customer. Two Rivers is a one-stop shop.”

Executive Vice President Steven Simon on Two Rivers Bank and Trust, with a corporate office at 4400 Westown Parkway, Suite 304 in West Des Moines and a retail location at 4500 Merle Hay Road in Des Moines.

With $20 million in capital upon opening in May 2005, Two Rivers now has $128 million in assets, with tremendous continued growth potential. Their products include both banking and non-banking services. The former includes a full range of business and personal accounts, loans and cash management services, as well as a deeply committed veteran seven-member management team with a collective 100- plus years of banking experience.

Non-banking services are achieved through excellent partnerships with the already well established Van Ahn Insurance Services and Financial Partners Group.

Says Darrell E. Hughes, President and CEO of Two Rivers, “Unifying our core strengths represents an extra-ordinary opportunity to expand our financial services and advisory platform, enhancing our menu of services to all of our clients.”

Van Ahn Insurance was founded over 20 years ago, with a particular focus on Health Insurance benefits and catering to both small and large businesses. The Financial Partners Group’s advisors provide a wide range of expertise and guidance in all areas of

financial planning at both the professional and personal levels.

And, Two Rivers Bank has mortgage products for construction, new home purchases, refinancing, first and second mortgages, debt consolidation and investment properties.

“Two Rivers and its partners offer a very positive and unique approach to financial services for companies and individuals,” adds Sandy Allison, Two Rivers’ Senior Vice President. “Each affiliated company specializes in guiding and advising clients to achieve their goals by utilizing the most intensive pool of provider resources, offering an incomparable personal investment by the leadership team and by developing and delivering innovative financial solutions.”

End result of this convenient, comprehensive collaboration – “Two Rivers doesn’t have to be an expert in everything,” says Steve. “We just have to know who the experts are so that we can provide solid, helpful information and referrals to our clients.”

Their technological capabilities include a new, innovative product offering called “Credit Stream Remote Deposit.” Originating from Check 21 Legislation, this service allows Two Rivers to accept deposits that are transmitted directly from the business itself through a Panini product called My Vision X® check scanner.

“It’s more suited for commercial use at this time for businesses receiving checks of large amounts, and there is a minimal monthly fee for the service,” Sandy says. “It’s internet-driven and can be set up on any PC. Deposits are automatically balanced and can be submitted, edited, deleted or changed until 7 p.m. daily. The actual images are stored for five days, with the capability to create and run Excel spreadsheet reports on the information for 60 days. After that it can be stored in a zip file and saved.”

More practical benefits include saving the time and gas required to manually take the deposits to the bank weekly or even daily.

“In effect, it will take the float out of the system,” she adds.

“Many banks have not gone with this new technology yet as it will ultimately reduce the fees they can impose on the client for processing checks and deposits manually,” says Steve.

In a hands-on approach typical of Two Rivers’ working philosophy, Sandy personally installs the equipment for the business and trains the employees on the scanning process. She also does the trouble- shooting when a client has concerns or questions.

“If something isn’t working,” she says, “I want to fix it.

You’ll always talk to a person rather than an 800 number.”

This attention to customer satisfaction is pervasive in all areas of service Two Rivers’ provides their clients.

“We treat people the way they would want to be treated,” Steve says.

“We’re more like consultants than bankers,” says Sandy. “We look at their activity and make the best recommendation. While some banks will fit a client into an already created box, we create new boxes based on what makes sense for them.”

Joel Magruder, President of Financial Partners Group, says, “All pieces of the financial picture are connected together. Decisions being made in one financial element of a financial plan affect other areas directly or indirectly. Our team of specialists creates a unique brain trust to provide comprehensive, innovative solutions for our clients. We work for our clients as a team providing in-depth expertise fulfilling all areas of needs, coordinated in one complete ‘big picture’ plan.”

One such case in point was a solution Steve offered to a company to restructure and add a personal line of credit. This allowed the utilization of a sweep product that minimized the interest expense significantly, while simultaneously freeing time for the Two Rivers’

team that would otherwise have been spent managing the account.

In an ongoing analysis of a client’s account, Sandy was able to make a suggestion that helped the client earn an additional $7,500 a year in interest. At no time was the mention of a new product or service offered to the client during the process… only the opportunity to benefit from her skills as a cash management consultant.

Still another analysis allowed Sandy to inform a company with a loan that by estimating their needs, they were leaving too much additional money in their account. Her suggested solution of an additional service minimized time, simplified the process and saved the client $6,000 per year.

Becci Hall, wealth management professional at Two Rivers, received a referral for a family needing $100,000 worth of improvement to their home and was interested in finance options. A typical banking suggestion may have been for a home equity line of credit or a home equity term loan as a second mortgage. With an interest rate of 4.875 percent on the first mortgage, the natural inclination would have been to leave it alone…which would indeed be best if analyzing only the house and rate. Becci’s comprehensive analysis, however, included the big picture – retirement, future real estate plans, cash flow and the combined financing costs for both mortgages. She provided them with four financing scenarios with two leaving the first mortgage in place, and two involving differences in monthly payments. The final decision could be made only after considering retirement funds, how long they planned to live in the home and the family’s cash flow needs, such as upcoming college expenses.

The family had also approached their long-term banker for advice, and later noted that they were not provided an in-depth analysis in that situation, nor offered other possible options.

“The gist of it is that we take the time to look at alternatives rather than simply going with the normal avenues,” Sandy says. “It’s personal for us and the client and we are pro-active in creating solutions for both companies and individuals.”

“We offer old fashioned service combined with modern technology,”

says Steve.

Two Rivers Bank and Trust offers solid financial stability, extensive product offerings and cutting edge capabilities… presented by experienced professionals who put the clients’ needs first and foremost. One stop-shopping at its absolute best. n