www.harlandfinancialsolutions.com

2012 

To fully understand the relationship between First Citizens National Bank and Harland Financial Solutions’ PhoenixEFE®, a little time travel is necessary. The year was 1993. First Citizens, known for serving agriculture customers in Northern Iowa, was seeking a new core system that went beyond its current green-screen model, so it could position the institution for some big changes to come.

“We were looking for something that was cutting-edge, a system that would allow us to gather information on our customers and marketplace quickly, so we could react and thrive,” explained Gregg Maakestad, senior vice president of First Citizens National Bank. “The Phoenix System was in its infancy, but it was clear it brought something new to the table.

What really impressed the bank was the speed of reporting. “With our old system, which was based on a proprietary flat file, a new report had to be coded in COBOL and then debugged, a process that could take several days. We realized early on that we needed quicker access to this information, so the concept behind the solution made a lot of sense to us,” Maakestad said.

First Citizens National Bank soon became the very first user of the Phoenix System. Not long after, the institution began a significant identity shift – consolidating four banks under one charter and moving its headquarters to Mason City, Iowa. It then consolidated the other three bank’s back offices onto the system.

“When we consolidated our banks and relocated our headquarters in 1994, we began redefining ourselves and positioning for growth. The move to Mason City placed our headquarters in a population center with opportunities in both the medical and retail markets,” explained Marti Rodamaker, president of First Citizens National Bank. “Because of the consolidation, we became a single bank holding company with merged capital, which gave us the resources to service larger customers. At the time, the megabanks were in a continual state of flux, and that also worked in our favor. We were able to maintain a strong corporate presence and execute a steady, yet aggressive growth strategy.”

Since it began using the solution in 1994, First Citizens has grown from $376 million in assets to $917 million. To support its growth, the institution today uses PhoenixEFE, Harland Financial Solutions’ complete, integrated enterprise software platform. “In Mason City alone, we increased our footings from $0 to $250 million with a 22 percent market share, going head-to-head with larger regional banks every day,” Maakestad said. “We know that our ability to access information quickly and respond has been key to our growth. We have excellent management. Marti, our president, is an astute banker and our chairman was a former bank examiner.

“With PhoenixEFE, I can ask for a list of every mortgage loan made in a specific county sorted by interest rates and have what I need in no time,” said Rodamaker. “We have a clean loan portfolio and our asset increase has come from constant quality growth. Being able to continually stay on top of our business with the help of PhoenixEFE is a big contributor to that success.”

The system has continued to evolve with the bank’s needs. “Back in 2000, we started offering image statements through Harland Financial Solutions’ ActiveView® Content Management. “We then added the DepositPro® and LaserPro® platforms from Harland Financial Solutions, both of which are tightly integrated with the system to improve workflow and eliminate most double keying,” Maakestad said. “Last year, we introduced Cavion® Internet Banking and Cavion Web Hosting – both tightly integrated and both extremely secure channels.”

Finally, Touché® CRM will be added to the mix to ramp up the bank’s already solid cross-selling efforts.

“We really bring our customers the best of both worlds. We are locally-owned, so we can make loan decisions quickly and provide a higher level of service. At the same time, through PhoenixEFE, we have the capacity to provide the same technology services as the larger banks,” Maakestad said.

Efficiency is also part of First Citizens’ DNA. The institution has an efficiency ratio of 53 percent and has been listed as one of the 150 most efficient bank holding companies in America by American Banker.

“Everyone who works here understands our focus on efficiency and can quote our efficiency ratio at any given time – it’s an intricate part of our culture,” Rodamaker explained. “The automation and workflow we achieve with PhoenixEFE is a key component to our success in this area.”

For 16 years, Harland Financial Solutions has delivered the technological heart of First Citizens National Bank. Recently, bank leaders extended its contract with Harland Financial Solutions for another five years. The decision to continue using PhoenixEFE is not one these executives made on auto-pilot.

“We always have a beginning and end date with our PhoenixEFE contract, and 18 months before every contract ends, we look at our options. We look at outsourcing and always come back to how efficiently we run here. We do our due diligence to make sure we have the best system out there, and we always come to the conclusion that we do,” Rodamaker said.

“There are so many challenges in our industry today – regulatory challenges, marketplace challenges, productivity challenges – bankers have to have a solution that can help them juggle all that and enable them to bring something special to their customers. We often have the opportunity to host PhoenixEFE prospects, so they can see how the solution works in our bank and ask us questions directly about the system,” he said. “I think anyone who’s considering a new system has to take this step and talk to bankers who are using the solution – then analyze the gap. When they do, I think they’ll find, like we did, that PhoenixEFE is the one they need to be considering. For us, it’s our past, it’s our present and it’s our future.”

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