Those Who Eat and Those Who Serve
Smaller Banks Thrive Out of the Fray of Crisis People Shift Money From Wall St. to Main St.
By Binyamin Appelbaum Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, September 26, 2008; D01
Banks throughout the United States carried on with the business of making loans yesterday even as federal officials warned again that their industry is on the verge of collapse, suggesting that the overheated language on Capitol Hill may not reflect the reality on many Main Streets.
. . . many smaller banks said they were actually benefiting from the problems on Wall Street. Deposits are flowing in as customers flee riskier investments, and well-qualified borrowers are lining up for loans.
"We collect money from local savers, and we lend it in the local community," said William Dunkelberg, chairman of Liberty Bell Bank in Cherry Hill, N.J. "We're doing fine. There are 9,000 financial institutions out there, and most of them are small and most of them are doing fine."
. . . Smaller banks, by contrast, make few mor…