Huntington National Bank 2004 Annual Report Download - page 20

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During 2004, we also developed a new banking office general manager program, which provides additional career and compensation
opportunities for our best-performing managers. This is structured to improve banking office performance by sharing the
banking office’s profitability with the manager. The program was implemented January 1, 2005, with 10% of our managers
participating initially.
Our people make the difference, whether that is a drive-in teller cashing a check, a mortgage sales representative helping a customer
purchase his or her first home, or a business banker working with small business owners to finance their building. We will continue
to hire, train, and retain the best people. We have good competitive products, with many convenient ways for our customers to do
their banking with us, and we plan to enhance continually the tools we provide our associates, allowing every customer to experience
“Simply the Best” service.
Commercial Banking
Our Commercial Banking strategy is to build long-term profitable partnerships with ideal Huntington clients. These are companies
in our markets that have annual sales of $10 – $500 million and need financial relationships with partners who can provide
innovative advice and ideas, not just a loan. Ideal clients have a preference for a primary bank that aligns with our value proposition,
which is to support our clients’ total cash flow needs whether they have money to invest, transactions to complete, or need money
to finance growth. As partners, we understand our purpose is to help them build ownership value through good investment returns,
efficient cash collection and disbursement, and access to flexible borrowings or capital markets.
Our structure allows our local bankers to deliver all of this with ease. We provide current and prospective customers with
knowledgeable commercial bankers who focus on providing innovative ideas and solutions. Key to this process has been the
development of the ideal Huntington client profile system that permits us to focus on the customers with the highest potential
for a long-term relationship.
Our “local bank with national resources” model ensures that we make decisions “close to the customer” while utilizing sophisticated
financing and servicing options to develop customized financial solutions. These options include treasury and cash management,
interest rate risk management, loan syndications, trade financing, foreign exchange, leasing, 401(k) plan services, investment
management, custody services, and private banking services.
Huntington commercial bankers have embraced a standard sales process that includes system-wide relationship and business
banking models and formal sales training for commercial associates. We continually redesign workflows for customer service and
administrative support to improve productivity and make it easier to sell a range of new products.
We have the size and reputation to attract the best commercial bankers available. They receive the education and support necessary
to provide a complete array of services to customers. Each commercial banker’s skill is improved as we measure performance and
provide feedback based on common reporting across all of our regions.
Having a solid credit culture to deliver excellent risk management is critical. To ensure all regions follow the same “blueprint”in
evaluating credit, we have established guiding principles delivered through a uniform credit training program across all regions.
It starts with formal credit training and ends with a program of continuing education for commercial credit officers. All commercial
bankers are required to complete the training.
The combination of our focus on ideal Huntington clients and the discipline of our credit culture has permitted us to reduce credit
risk while growing our customer base. Year-end non-performing assets were near the lowest level in many years, and the number
of ideal Huntington clients has grown.
Now our objective is to become more efficient in the way we execute our sales, service, and credit strategies. During 2004, a number
of end-to-end process improvements were installed. As a result of these changes, our relationship managers have increased the
time spent each day on business development activities from 30% to 50%. This significant increase in productivity is paying off
for our customers.
We are confident about our ability to grow our commercial business. We know there is ample opportunity to develop commercial
banking relationships in our markets with ideal Huntington clients. Our strategy is to position Huntington as their partner.