Fifth Third exec says bank remains focused on serving its customers
Jordan Miller moves in elite circles in Columbus. As the regional president of Fifth Third Bank — one of the most important financial institutions in the city — Miller rubs shoulders with Columbus’ top leaders in business, government, the nonprofit sector and more.
A Columbus native, Miller grew up in the Milo-Grogan neighborhood, just three miles north of his Downtown office at the Fifth Third Center. That short literal distance belies the significant metaphorical miles that Miller traveled to reach where he is today, from an inner-city neighborhood to the pinnacle of one of Columbus’ most important industries.
Columbus CEO spoke with Miller about this journey, as well as technological shifts in banking, how Fifth Third tries to stand out in the competitive central Ohio market and what the bank branch of the future might look like.
Q: How did you and other African-Americans view banks when you were growing up in Columbus?
A: They were nice buildings, the kind of place you didn’t feel like you necessarily belonged. And there was no reason for me to go into a bank. I remember when I got my first job when I was in high school, and I remember getting my first check, and I was wondering, “What am I going to do?” I didn’t have a checking account. I didn’t know how to go into a bank and cash a check.
Q: Your first job in the industry was as a bank examiner. Did you know what the job entailed when you took it?
A: Not really. I had a friend who told me a little bit about it and told me where to apply and all that kind of stuff. He likened it to an accounting firm. You’re going to be going into different banks all the time, and you’re going to do examinations, and you’re going to start in different areas, and you’re going to review a lot of different
aspects of the bank’s balance sheet, their management, their capital ratios and all of those things.
Q: How does Columbus compare with Fifth Third’s home base of Cincinnati?
A: Those are probably the two most stable cities in the state. Cincinnati’s got some great companies that are headquartered there. They also have great insurance companies, and they have a really strong group of banks, just like central Ohio. But the state government is probably the difference. … The other thing about Cincinnati is it’s an old city. Columbus is a fairly new city. You had river cities and Great Lakes cities — that’s how the Midwest was formed. Columbus just comes out of nowhere. It had nothing but land all around it, and all of a sudden, it’s morphed. Cincinnati had a lot of old money. I worked in the investment side down there. We had a lot of old families who were from there with huge, huge investments in the bank. Columbus doesn’t quite have that. We have great families here, but what we would call old money isn’t here.
Q: How does Fifth Third try to stand out in the competitive Columbus banking environment?
A: It sounds cliché, but focus on the customers, listening to what they need, and trying to come up with creative and innovative solutions for their problems and challenges. Most people have the same kind of issues. They want to go to college. They want to build a business. They want to retire. It’s just, how do you want to help them?
Q: What is Fifth Third’s branch of the future going to look like?
A: We think bank branches are still going to be very important but be smaller. Not the big teller lines that you see: more conversation rooms, more technology in the center. The super ATMs will be able to do pretty much any kind of transaction you want to do. So the idea is to meet with the customer and help them with their financial needs, to grow whatever it is they’re trying to do, something more challenging than just doing the transaction: How do you plan for retirement? How do I buy my home?
Q: Are there still tellers in this branch?
A: We kind of look at it as there will be a universal banker. “Hey, welcome to the bank. Here’s all the things you can do. You need cash? You need to get money? You need a deposit? You need to move stuff around?” All those kind of things. But then you can also have that private conversation.