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Yankee moves into the world of E-commerce

by Dean W. Moreau, president and CEO, Yankee Farm Credit

Farm Credit has a long history of providing our members with two choices for how they want to do business — either on their farm or in our offices. I think this strategy has set us apart from commercial banks with their primary focus on branch office delivery.

Today the commercial banking world is turned upside-down as a massive shift is underway from a "brick-and-mortar" strategy to E-commerce. Some banking organizations have gone so far as to create entirely new banks that will operate solely on the Internet.

"Expect a future with on-farm, office or electronic service. You pick the one that works best for you."

As long as 10 years ago, it was not difficult to foresee that brick-and-mortar investments in banking would someday be liabilities, rather than assets. While banks were busy pouring huge amounts into branch office monuments, we looked on somewhat curiously and played a different game.

Here at Yankee, we sold older offices and rolled the tax-deferred proceeds into modest, new, efficient ones. We created business condominiums out of some office locations and became landlords for others. Most recently, we sold a branch office and then structured a lease buyback to further cut our building investment.

As we approach the new millennium it is clear that our successful on-farm/branch office delivery model won't be sufficient for the maximum convenience that our busy 21st century customers will demand. Yankee needs a third option — electronic delivery of our products and services. I'm pleased to introduce two new products that get us moving forward in the E-commerce world.

Direct Payment Program joins Direct Deposit Checking. A call to your local branch office now gets you an electronic advance from your line of credit into your checking account, or an electronic payment from your checking account applied against your loan balance.
www.YankeeACA.com. Take a look at our new Web site. It shares information about Yankee, Northeast agricultural news, events and special features. It also allows you to post your own classified ads for free and to communicate with us. Over the next year, we'll add increasing capacity, including online account inquiry, online loan application, cash management options and 24-hour Internet customer service.

Unlike banks that seem to jump from one strategy to the next, often limiting customers to "either/or" alternatives, Yankee will continue to go our own way. Our branch office network is low cost and well located. Loan officers who visit your farms have been outfitted with the latest in PC technology. We will offer you more choices to do business, not less, and we will deliver it in a flexible, deliberate, cost-efficient manner.

Expect a future with on-farm, office or electronic service. You pick the one that works best for you.

This letter appeared in a recent issue of Financial Partner (F.P.) magazine, Yankee Farm Credit's customer publication. Click here if you would like to start receiving F.P. magazine in the mail.