UMassFive College Federal Credit Union’s Post

Looking back to past banking days…. I was fortunate to be hired straight out of college with an Economics/Finance degree in 1972 by the Third National Bank of Hampden County, a prominent local business bank established in the late 1800s. In 1970, amendments to the Bank Holding Company Act allowed banks to venture into equipment leasing. Seizing this opportunity, Third National Bank, as small as they were, founded TNB Leasing Corp which I was a part of, at a time when the huge Bank of America was one of a few other huge banks in the US also making similar moves, and one of the largest lessors in the banking industry to this day. This marked the beginning of my journey in equipment leasing. Since few other small or large banks entered this product line to this day, it provided me with nearly 50 years of successful self-employment in the equipment leasing industry. This experience shows that small banks and credit unions can achieve similar success by innovating and developing new product lines that the larger banks have done. According to the SBA per AI, in 1972 there were 10 million small businesses in the US, now there are over 30 million, the needs are greater than ever and now bringing needed non bank providers into the picture.