Northwest Receives J.D. Power Award

Music played and confetti flew as a vintage 1940 armored car delivered the J.D. Power and Associates trophy to officials of Northwest Savings Bank in downtown Warren on Thursday. A group of more than 700 employees of the local bank met the presentation with cheers.

The ceremony took place on a specially-built stage at the south end of Liberty Street, which was closed to traffic for the event and crowded with Northwest personnel, between the bank's Administration and Corporate Centers. Banners, twenty feet tall, bearing images of the award hung from the enclosed walkway that spans the street above the stage.

Executive Vice President of Banking Services of Northwest Savings Bank Steven Fisher addressed the crowd. He recognized that those gathered represented all aspects of Northwest Savings Bank. Attending were one representative from each of the bank's 171 community offices, all eight Region Presidents, business partners including commercial lenders, wealth management representatives and business service advisors from the five states the banks serves, members of the company's Northwest Consumer Discount Company, Boetger and Associates, and Veracity Benefit Designs; it was the largest gathering of Northwest Savings Bank employees in history.

"We ranked highest in customer satisfaction with retail banking in the Mid-Atlantic Region according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2010 Retail Banking Satisfaction Study," Mr. Fisher said. "We didn't win this. J.D. Power didn't award it. Our customers endorsed the way we do business. They are the ones who said we should have it. We thank them. We accept this nationally-admired award with pride. We understand the responsibility to our customers that this iconic trophy brings."

J.D. Power and Associates National Director, Client Services, David Wano briefly addressed the crowd. He pointed out that Northwest is one of the five highest rated banks in the nation in customer satisfaction and that it rated first in the survey for preventing and resolving customer problems.

Northwest Savings Bank President and CEO William J. Wagner then thanked the employees for their commitment to customer service and Northwest's customers for their support. He then pointed out that Northwest competes with over 150 banks in its region, which is the most competitive in the nation and challenged the crowd to repeat the results in 2011. The crowd responded again with cheers.

The local bank received the award because it ranked highest in customer satisfaction in retail banking in the Mid-Atlantic Region according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2010 Retail Banking Customer Satisfaction Study. (SM)

The study, conducted in January, analyzed overall customer satisfaction with their retail banking experience based on six factors: account activities, account information, facility, fees, problem resolution, and product offering. Northwest received the highest customer satisfaction score in the Mid-Atlantic Region, which includes Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

The J.D. Power and Associates ranking caps a momentous period for Northwest. The recognition follows being named one of America's 100 Most Trustworthy Companies by Forbes Magazine in 2009. The company sold $688 million in stock to become a fully-public company, building its reserves and enabling it to expand its franchise. Northwest Savings Bank saw record growth in deposits and originated over $2.4 billion in loans despite weak economic conditions in the past fiscal year, and the trend continued during the past calendar quarter.

Pictured, front, Linda Fray, Smethport; Row 2 Debbie Karin, Smethort; Linda Karija, Coudersport; Row 3 Sandy Bresslin, Emporium; Deb Waldin, Austin; Row 4 Bill Wagner, President and CEO; Julie Marasco, President, Northwest Region, Bradford; Steve Fisher, EVP, Banking Services; David Wano, J.D. Power and Associates National Director, Client Services
Photo courtesy of Jim Holding, Vice President of Communications, Northwest Savings Bank