A Conversation With ... Fred Osborn

What is your role as chairman of Commerce Bank’s Springfield region?
Basically, it’s an administrative role. I support and manage – but not directly manage, because we have market presidents – the Lebanon, Willard, Bolivar, Branson, Nixa, Ozark and Springfield markets.

With 360 locations, how does Kansas City-based Commerce Bank balance a big-bank mindset with what it calls the “super community bank approach”?
The theory behind the super community bank is that we provide what your local bank can provide in terms of that hometown bank feel. At the same time, being as large as we are, we have been able to leverage our resources and can provide some of the products and services that a local community bank can’t. But we still deliver it in the same model. Each one of our markets has a market president, and they have autonomy … to make decisions for their markets.

Prior to coming to Springfield, you were with Commerce in Joplin. What are your top priorities for your new post?
My number one goal is to get to know as many of our clients as I can, and to get to know as many of the business folks in Springfield, to find out what organizations are doing what, and get involved with some of those. I had lunch with Jim Anderson at (the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce) last week. This chamber is a lot like the Joplin chamber in the way they’re structured. I think strong chambers are critical to strong communities. But my primary goal is to get to know the people, because that’s what makes it happen.

What do you see as the biggest challenges for banking?
Getting this economy going again. We’re starting to see signs that it’s turned a corner, but I think if you ask most people up and down the street when they thought the recession was over, they’d probably say, “We still feel some effects of it.” I also think we have huge issues in terms of a regulatory environment that has changed drastically in the last five years. I think we have to be flexible enough to respond to those and still maintain value in the community.

With 41 banks in the Springfield metropolitan statistical area, is competition a challenge in this region?
Not really. In the late 1990s, when the economy was really running well, startup banks were very popular. That’s when we saw the huge explosion of banks in Joplin, and Springfield as well. … I think it’s healthy for everybody. I think it’s good for the consumer and the small-businessman to have as many choices as they can. I think it makes us all a little sharper.

Commerce’s fourth-quarter earnings were $61.5 million, and its net income for 2011 was up 15.6 percent to $256.3 million. How is Commerce working to achieve growth?
(Organic growth) is something that David Kemper, our chairman, has talked about for years. … We’ve found throughout the years that our existing client base is probably our biggest vehicle for growth. One of the best things we can have happen is for one of our clients to say, “I’ve got a buddy who needs a bank. Would you help him out?” And that happens a lot. … We kind of call it the blocking and tackling of banking, and you’ve just got to be good at it. Banking is a commodity. There’s not a lot of secrets, not a lot of new products. Nobody’s come out with a new commercial loan that’s different than anybody else’s. You’ve just got to know your client base and do the right things for them, because when our client base is successful, we’re successful.

Commerce reported total loans of $9.2 billion as of Dec. 31. Where do you see growth potential in lending?
I think it goes back to our core strength, which is our commercial/industrial loans and consumer loans. I think the consumer appetite for borrowing right now is picking up some, which is a huge sign for the economy. We’ve always prided ourselves in being a commercial bank, and that’s looking at commercial real estate (and) commercial/industrial, which (may be) a guy putting in a new line for his manufacturing plant. … We’re conservative, but we also understand that we have to continue to grow, and we’re going to (achieve) that growth through what’s got us here in the past.
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