Creating a community bank was the dream for the officers and directors of the new Providence Bank, which opened its doors at 4955 Windward Parkway, on Alpharetta, April 10. Their goal is to eliminate the banking nightmares that many consumers and small businesses have experienced as mergers and acquisitions swallow up and impersonalize the banks they patronized for years. Located just west of Highway 9, the bank plans to serve customers in the North Fulton, East Cobb and South Forsyth area. Providence Bank will celebrate its official grand opening Friday, May 5.

“We found there was a hole to fill here in the Alpharetta community,” said Bradley (Brad) P. Serff, President and Chief Executive Officer. “The most alarming point we heard over and over again was that bank customers felt their large banks and their staffs were very good at selling products but when they needed service they were often directed to the customer service center via the Internet or an 800 number.

“We’re going to turn that around,” he continued. “Every member of our team is experienced in small business and consumer banking. We want to be our customers financial consultants instead of being bankers who just sell products. We are selling relationships with bankers and a bank that will be available to meet our customers’ needs today, tomorrow and for years to come. It is our ability to provide responsive personal service that makes us unique in a world of large financial institutions.”

Not that Providence Bank will ignore technology. The bank will have the full range of products and services utilizing the latest technology including Internet banking and bill paying (www.providencebankga.com). In addition, Providence will offer remote capture systems to allow small businesses to make daily deposits without a trip to the bank. For example, businesses such as medical and dental offices, CPAs and others that take in checks will be able to scan the checks and forward the images to the bank on a daily basis, saving them time and getting their deposits credited faster.

Another important benefit for its customers is that the bank will credit deposits up to 5 p.m. Monday through Fridays. Serff explained, “We designed our services to provide the best possible service experience for our customer.”

Providence Bank will offer traditional retail banking products, including personal checking and savings accounts, direct deposit of payroll and government benefit checks, NOW accounts, certificates of deposit, individual retirement accounts, commercial checking and money market accounts, overdraft protection, wire transfers, safe deposit boxes, collection of monetary items, bank-by-mail service, night depository, debit cards and credit cards.

The Bank also plans to offer residential and commercial real estate loans, home equity loans and lines of credit, consumer installment loans, automobile loans and SBA loans, among other products.

Providence Bank was able to find its building after it was vacated as the result of a bank merger. It sits at the corner of Highway 9 and Windward Parkway, a strategic crossroad in Alpharetta.

“It’s a two-year-old facility, and it enabled us to be a full-blown bank right from day one,” Serff said about the building. “We didn’t have to start out doing business out of a trailer or some other temporary facility. Finding this building – already to go – saved us a lot of time and money, giving us resources to devote right away to our customers.”

Serff, born in Louisiana and raised in Tennessee, has been in the Atlanta banking community since 1988 at Citizens & Southern Bank (Bank of America) and was active in the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, Leadership North Fulton and Habitat for Humanity. In 1997 he relocated to Milledgeville to become the City President of First Liberty Bank. He was hired by Exchange Bank as Executive Vice President and Senior Lender in 1999. In 2001, Brad was named to the Exchange Bank Board of Directors and was named President in 2004, where he served until May 2005 to become part of Providence Bank’s organizing group. In 2004, Brad was selected by Georgia Trend magazine as one of the state’s “40 under 40.” He currently serves on the board for YMCA Camp High Harbor Services and on the board of Eagles Nest Ministries. A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Brad is married to Dawn Dehmer Serff; they have two daughters and reside in Alpharetta.

David W. Molson, Executive Vice President and Chief Lending Officer, is a Canadian native with 34 years in the banking industry. He spent a significant part of his banking career with Royal Bank of Canada. He relocated to Alpharetta in 1999 to become the bank’s National Director of Commercial and Retail Banking. David served as a Vice President and Region Manager of Commercial Banking for BBT in Atlanta, and from 2003 until January 2006, he was a Vice President of Commercial Loans with Neighbors Bank, a start up community bank. David and his wife Arline reside in Alpharetta.

About Providence Bank
Providence Bank, headquartered at 4955 Windward Pkwy, Alpharetta, was chartered by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance and obtained deposit insurance from the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) to commence business April 10, 2006. Visit their website at www.providencebankga.com for more information.