After More Than 150 Years of Service, This Bank Remains Committed to Helping Communities Grow

In a Nutshell: We love the history and lore of small community banks and credit unions, which often have engaging origin stories. But there aren’t many financial institutions that can claim an unbroken record of more than 150 years of community service. That’s the story at Wayne Bank, based in Honesdale, Pennsylvania. From its modest 19th-century origins in Wayne County to its current footprint across 29 branches in northern Pennsylvania and southern New York, Wayne Bank has always focused on making the communities it serves better places to live and work. That steadfast commitment has earned the bank our Editor’s Choice™ Award.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. That’s the message at Wayne Bank, a financial stalwart in the small town of Honesdale and rural Wayne County in northeastern Pennsylvania since 1871.

That’s right: Less than a decade after the U.S. emerged from the Civil War into the age of industrialization, Wayne Bank supported Honesdale residents and merchants as they applied their talent and creativity to improve their lives.

We’re also impressed by what Wayne Bank has meant for downtown Honesdale. The bank moved four times within the city limits during the late 19th and early 20th centuries before constructing an impressive permanent headquarters on Main Street in 1924.

As of the summer of 2024 when we published this article, that meant a record of 154 years of continuous community service, including a century in the same building, for Wayne Bank. Something must be going right.

The community makes it work. Society and the economy in Wayne County are vastly different from the 19th century, partly because the bank and its residents have continually worked together.

The bank manages over $2.2 billion in assets and is important in boosting the area’s agriculture, manufacturing, healthcare, hospitality, retail, and service industries.

What was once a single branch in a relatively small town is now a team of nearly 300 employees staffing 29 community offices across Pennsylvania and New York from Scranton to the Finger Lakes. A comprehensive product and service lineup meets the financial needs of diverse consumers and businesses.

As technology and personalized service work together to spread the benefits of financial services, educational initiatives help students, residents, and businesses gain financial skills. At the same time, a spirit of volunteerism and philanthropy strives to level the playing field for all.

It’s a winning combination that has earned Wayne Bank our Editor’s Choice™ Award.

“Having a headquarters in the town where we started more than 150 years ago has shaped our values around our communities,” said Steven Daniels, Senior Vice President and Director of Consumer Banking.

Kristen E. Lancia, CFMP, Vice President and Marketing Manager, agreed. “Our customers are our friends and neighbors,” she said. “We are proud to give back.”

Jim Donnelly, President and CEO, added a reflection on Wayne Bank’s long history as a point of pride among the current generation of employees.

“We’re proud to have served our community for 154 years,” he said. “Even with that long history, we’re always looking for better ways to serve our customers.”

Wayne Bank remains committed to the same mission since its founding. Embodied in the phrase “Helping the Community Grow,” Wayne Bank’s values prove that although a society’s economic priorities may evolve, the healthiest societies thrive on continuity.

“In the 150-plus years we’ve been in business, we’ve seen pretty much everything,” Lancia said.

The modern incarnation of the bank offers wide-ranging personal and business banking services to meet the diverse needs of its customers. From checking and savings accounts to cards and loans, Wayne Bank strives to meet all financial criteria to exceed expectations and prepare customers for whatever the future brings.

That means different product concentrations when the bank expands into new areas. For example, moving into New York’s Finger Lakes region allowed the bank to support more agricultural businesses, including the wineries, dairies, and crop and cattle farms that make the area distinctive.

“At the end of the day, we all became a bit more well-rounded because of that,” Daniels said.

Meanwhile, core goals include offering a way forward to those with bad credit. Core constituencies include those new to the market seeking to build a healthy credit score or rebuild after a setback.

The bank’s credit card lineup serves those constituencies with the Secured Platinum Visa, which allows users to build or rebuild their credit history and provides free credit score reporting in return for collateral between $300 and $5,000.

With millions of Americans living paycheck to paycheck and unable to cover a minor emergency expense, the bank also offers Statement Savings to encourage customers to use auto-deposit to set aside rainy-day funds.

“Establishing credit is always in the conversation with younger customers and others looking to get started,” Daniels said.

Lancia added that the bank calls its branches community offices because it wants those locations to be centers of in-person consultation, which bank research indicates customers favor.

“We want our branches to be centers in our communities,” Lancia said. “We live here, so we naturally care about our neighbors and businesses.”

Families and households are ultimately responsible for their economic well-being. However, time- and resource-strapped parents and guardians aren’t always in the best position to provide game-changing guidance.

Everyone agrees that more and better financial education in schools and communities can be the foundation of a healthier society and economy. Wayne Bank steps up with an almost anytime/anywhere commitment to boosting healthy financial behaviors through education.

Schools are a prime focus. Wayne Bank partners with the American Bankers Association (ABA) to offer Teach Children to Save presentations in elementary and middle schools. It participates in events such as JA Biztown, where students operate banks and businesses and learn the positive and negative consequences of their financial and community behavior.

“It’s great to get out in front of students and get that reaction,” Daniels said. “Financial education is beneficial to the community and personally rewarding.”

“We’ve had some of our bankers go into classes, read books on the difference between saving and spending, and give out little Wayne Bank-branded piggy banks,” Lancia added.

Education extends to community fraud and identity theft protection through the ABA’s #BanksNeverAskThat campaign. In these and many other ways, Wayne Bank is at the forefront of in-person financial education in the communities it serves.

Wayne Bank also offers copious online financial education resources for customers and businesses, keeping with its commitment to the evolution of digital banking.

Online resources include an education center, a guide to managing overdraft fees, a business safety guide, and links to public and nonprofit resources, including IdentityTheft.gov and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. There’s also a financial empowerment toolkit for businesses in English and Spanish.

Lancia said financial education messaging is a prominent component of the bank’s marketing strategy. Her team produces social media marketing initiatives and videos to educate people on different life stages and needs they may have that they may not know how to navigate.

“From college to marriage, buying your first home, expanding your family, and enjoying your retirement, we’re always coming out with new tips and tricks,” Lancia said.

Wayne Bank rounds out its community commitment by encouraging employee volunteerism and philanthropy. The bank participates in hundreds of events annually, adding to its reputation as a bank that cares about community growth in all its forms.

Lancia said the bank’s rural roots come to the fore through its participation in local fundraising festivals.

“There’s a festival or fair for everything: We participate in multiple tractor parades, the Honeybee Festival, the Bagel Festival, the Cauliflower Festival, and so much more,” Lancia said. “We love to be involved in all this, and our employees are passionate about volunteering their time.”

A highlight is volunteering through the United Way’s Day of Caring program, which involves local United Way chapters sponsoring targeted community volunteering events.

Employees instigate many volunteer initiatives by coming to the bank with proposals they’re passionate about. One community office started a back-to-school drive for its local school after a bank employee talked with the principal about the need for backpacks and school supplies.

“The mindset throughout our community offices is wanting to help and then finding ways to do it,” Lancia said.

Local schools, first responders, and the organizations most in need within the bank’s communities are priorities for giving.

One recent donation purchased a new scoreboard for a school sports field, and another supported a local YMCA through the bank’s Neighborhood Assistance Program.

Another helped keep the lights on at a local animal shelter. If there’s a need, the bank finds a way to meet it.

“That’s the importance of being in your communities: knowing where you’re needed and where you can make the biggest impact,” Daniels said.

Staying vital and committed to social equity across long time spans, as Wayne Bank has, shows that achieving lasting success involves more than watching the bottom line.

For a bank with such an extensive history, Wayne Bank remains future-focused.

“We’re always looking to make improvements that move the needle and better serve our communities,” Daniels said.