CAPTAINING TEAM SYNERGY Meet the two veteran bankers generating Fifth Third’s offense in South Carolina story by STEPHANIE TROTTER photo by WILL CROOKS
James Jones, wealth management
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UBJ | 3.15.2019
“A little over an hour into our meeting, I knew if Fifth Third could get the deal right, this was going to be a great opportunity for us to do great things for the community,” recalls Arndt. It took just a few months for Jones, and his team, to make the transition from Wells Fargo. Now the two seasoned leaders are writing a playbook to “build a better bank.” A key starter to their strategy
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an opportunity to do something quite different than what is being done by bigger banks, or community banks.” While overall economic growth, bifurcations and mergers in the market, may provide openings for big wins, this Fifth Third team is looking beyond a final score. “We’ve never set goals in terms of size or significance,” explains Arndt. “We always look at this as a long-term project. “We’ve devised
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Two months into quarterbacking Fifth Third’s new wealth management group, James Jones is hitting his stride. “I’ve always come into existing private banks, and in some of that I was building books and building businesses, but not the structure itself,” the S.V.P. Wealth Management Advisor shares. “So, this is something that not having wealth management in South Carolina prior to now, it was a very unique opportunity.” Charlie Arndt serves as Jones’ co-captain at Fifth Third, having established the bank’s Palmetto presence de novo, with its commercial banking group over the past seven years. “We were patient,” the S.V.P. Commercial Banking Manager explains. “We always knew a wealth management team coupled with a very successful commercial team would do exceptionally well. We’ve been looking to that since day one. We wanted to find someone who shared our same goals, characteristics, ethical business practices and ideals.” Arndt, a Maryland native, has worked in Greenville since 1994. Jones is a home-grown boy, having attended Eastside High, who returned to local banking in 2002, after thirteen years in Charlotte. Both admit surprise, and joke that other than Jones almost running over Arndt in a nearby parking garage, they never met until last fall.
Charlie Ardnt, commerical banking
So we can grow, create more opportunities, generate more wealth for our clients, and preserve that wealth.
CHARLIE ARNDT
is the synergy between the two entities. “Most banks try to find a way to have their wealth management team partner with the commercial groups, but aren’t successful,” Jones reveals. “I recognized a really unique opportunity here. It’s a great fit, a great match and we can work very well together.” Arndt elaborates, saying, “There are no superstars on his side of the fence, and there are no superstars on mine. It’s a collective team effort. Because of our relationship, and our desire to see what the bank could be, we see this as
a plan and a shared passion. We want to take our unique skills and collective teams, and put them into the state of South Carolina so we can grow, create more opportunities, generate more wealth for our clients, and preserve that wealth.” Jones says the size of the local operation, allows for strategic agility – the ability to react quickly and positively for their clients. “We have a nimbleness and agility to be very responsive to our clients with what they need,” Jones shares. “We have a client who is coming
on board right now. We were able to have a decision made around a credit opportunity within a couple of days, as opposed to a couple of weeks, and the answer was positive, as opposed to negative!” Arndt adds, “We have a big balance sheet where we can play in a lot of different areas, but we have a very short chain of command. This is a people business and decisions need to be made by people. There’s a trust. And the trust doesn’t just exist between the clients and bankers, but people who are in the field, versus those who are executive managers in administration. They hired us for a reason.” No doubt, longevity, established networking and a commitment to Greenville were stand-out stats in recruiting Arndt and Jones. The Fifth Third rookie understands the game, saying, “If you have a commitment to the community and want to see what’s best for the people there, you do what’s best for them and you’re able to create relationships. In our business, it’s all based on trust and building trust.” His competitive partner closes, saying, “Energy and inertia are going to create a tailwind for us to do business, whether the economy is weak or strong. We want to look back 10, 15, 20 years down the road and say, ‘Wow, we were pioneers within Fifth Third to open up a brand-new market and show how this could be done.’” Game on.