A Conversation With ... Doug Neff

You’ve been with Commerce Bank for more than 22 years. What do you bring to the table in Springfield?
The one thing that I always point to is that I’m a Commerce guy. I have grown up in the organization, and culturally it’s a good fit. John Himmel retired from this job a year ago, and John was a long-term Commerce person as well. My career is patterned a lot after his; we have come through very similar tracks. He was actually in Wichita before I was. I think that is really one of my valuable pieces. My entire career is based on commercial banking. As a Commerce lifer, a lot of what I will do here is help these guys manage the commercial side of the company as well, as the other lines of business.

Effective April 26, you took the helm as chairman and CEO of Commerce Bank’s Springfield region, which has more than $1.3 billion in local deposits and ranks No. 2 in Springfield metropolitan statistical area market share. What changes do you plan to makes and what will you keep the same?
Commerce Bank of Springfield has been a very high-performing, well-managed bank. I don’t think there are a lot of things that need to be changed here. My hope is that we can continue on the strong footing that we are on and the legacy that we have here as one of the largest banks in the community. My goal is to continue that. I want to get very involved in the community.

The way we run our markets – as “super community” banks – we are part of the community, part of the fabric. As a new guy in the community, I want to become part of that as well. My plan is to be here for a long time and make a difference.

What is the ‘super community’ banking approach?
It’s really when you take the best of both worlds. You take the local delivery of a community bank, and you team that with product set and the capacity of a super regional bank, making the resources of a large bank personal.

With dozens of banks in the Springfield region, what can you do to keep the bank competitive in the local market?
It’s not as much about being competitive as it is about adding value to your clients and your prospects. I tell people this, banking and what we sell can look like a commodity. Every bank in town has the same money. It’s green, it all looks the same and it’s priced about the same. So at the end of the day, what it’s about is us as bankers, in our bank. We have to differentiate ourselves.

The banking industry has had drastic highs and lows during the recession. How would you characterize the industry now?
In general, I think the industry got a bad name from the few big players that were doing some things they shouldn’t have done. Banking became a dirty word for a while. The investment banks and the commercial banks got lumped together and it was the investment banks that created most of the problems. For the most part, we have a healthy banking industry and the economy is getting better. It’s too bad that banking got a bad reputation for a while, but it’s on its way to recovery.

What does the future look like for the industry in southwest Missouri?
We are starting to see businesses who need to borrow money. What’s interesting is that most businesses have really built their cash up. Most deposits at banks are at all-time highs, levels most of us never thought we would see. Businesses have been very cautious and selective about where they have spent their money. With the economy growing, people have confidence. The banks are, as an industry, very hungry to make loans.

The housing market has strengthened up a lot. It’s a sellers market now and you are starting to see more demand on the housing side, which creates more mortgage loan opportunities. The automobile industry came off one of its best years ever last year. A lot of car sales have created a lot of demand for car loans. Not to say there won’t be a bump or too, but Springfield is very fortunate to be based on some very strong industries. The backbone of Springfield is good.