Sam Sidhu to take charge at Customers
The average customer in Berks County may not notice a huge difference at Customers Bank under a new president and CEO, admits Sam Sidhu, who is set to step into the role on July 1.
And that’s a good thing. With top leadership edging toward retirement and a perception that banks are constantly consolidating and rebranding, it was natural to wonder what would become of Customers Bank in the next few years.
Sidhu’s impending promotion puts that speculation to rest.
“Employees and customers should now have comfort that Customers Bank is retrenched and leaning in and going to be here,” Sidhu said. “Not only be here in the future, but also designing a better way and a better bank.”
With 50-plus-year banking veteran Richard “Dick” Ehst stepping down, Sidhu will move into the role, as was the plan when he joined Customers Bank some 15 months ago.
He brings a non-traditional banking management background along with a deep understanding of financial technology, or fin tech, to the West Reading headquartered institution.
The latter could prove especially
vital to Sidhu’s and the bank’s plans.
Why Sidhu was the choice
Despite deep and long-running ties to Customers Bank, though — Sidhu served on the bank’s board for eight years prior to joining the management team, and his father, Jay Sidhu, remains chair of the bank and its parent, Customers Bancorp — his ascension was not pre-ordained.
“The thought never really crossed my mind,” Sidhu said. “My involvement at the board level was my way of participating.”
Ehst led an exhaustive sixmonth, nationwide search for a successor before eventually settling on the younger Sidhu.
Prior to joining Customers’ executive team in January 2020, Sidhu founded the publicly traded Megalith Financial Corp. LLC and previously worked at Providence Equity Partners and Goldman Sachs. He earned an Master of Business Communication degree from Harvard Business School and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
But Sidhu’s time at Megalith, an investment firm that served as a vehicle for merging with companies in the fintech space, may have been most attractive aspect of his resume.
“Through that process I realized the bank was where the fintech change and fintech evolution really needs to be because that’s where a lot of the power is,” Sidhu said.
“A bank charter for a fintech was a little bit of a no-no word — you always wanted to be a tech company and not a fintech bank — and I think that’s changing.”
An added emphasis on fintech
Fintech can be literally any type of banking-related technology and its use was already rapidly accelerating prior to COVID-19. Now, it’s the primary way many people conduct everyday business with their banks.
Naturally, the banks that can figure out a way to get ahead of the curve and make the experience easier and more positive, Sidhu observes, will gain the competitive advantage.
“Banking technology is some of the worst legacy technology just by nature of safety, security, protecting peoples’ money,” Sidhu said. “It inherently needs to be lagging. It can’t be at the forefront.
“Having said that, touching the customer and the customer’s journey, there’s a lot to learn and a lot to be desired from the customer obsessed fin techs.”
For Sidhu’s tenure to be deemed a success, in his eyes, he not only needs to retain Customers Bank’s accounts, bring in new business and continue to guide the institution in a way that benefits all of its stakeholders.
He also needs to people to be impressed.
“If you break that down and say the customer has to say, ‘Wow,’ that’s a very high bar,” Sidhu said.
“Continuing to maintain that, especially as we become more omni-channel and more of a digital institution, is going to be incredibly important.”
The culture is already in place
Other aspects of Sidhu’s new job should be simpler — namely, upholding the values Customers Bank has always operated under.
“Our vision is not changing,” Sidhu said. “Our vision is the same.”
The changes Sidhu wants to make are based around improving the customer experience through technology, and making financial institutions more accessible to everybody.
All of that starts on the foundation Ehst and Sidhu’s father, Jay, have already established.
“It’s a professional family,” Sidhu said, noting Ehst and Jay Sidhu will continue their involvement. “It truly is. I can put hand over heart and say just about every direct report that I have at the company has explicitly told me they want to retire at this company. And those who haven’t, I think they have every desire to. That’s a real sign of a special culture.”
Sidhu went on to describe Ehst as his mentor, giving one the impression there will be an added pressure, not only to make customers say, “Wow,” and keep Customers Bank performing at a high level.
But also to honor the legacy of his professional family.
“They are very, very big shoes to fill,” Sidhu said. “The great news is Dick and Jay have created an incredible culture at Customers Bank.”