2 min read February 2023 — Hector Ponte, senior vice president and South Florida branch banking region director of Wells Fargo, shared his insights with Invest: on the strength of Miami, and his employees in particular, throughout the pandemic. He gave his thoughts on opening a new branch in the midst of economic challenges, changes in customer preferences and building a culture where every employee is heard.
What have been the primary highlights over the last year for the bank’s Miami operations?
There is a lot to be proud of in Miami, but being able to function in this post pandemic world, if we could say the pandemic is over, is near the top of that list. South Florida kicked off 2022 with a large surge of COVID-19 cases, so being able to keep our branches open during that time was a big accomplishment. We have one of the largest, if not the largest, branch network in South Florida, so making sure our branches were open to satisfy the needs of our customers and our local communities was a big priority for our team. Keeping the branches open during the pandemic was a juggling act because we also had to take care of the needs of our employees.
Another highlight for Wells Fargo in Miami was the opening of a new branch after several years of searching for the right location in an area where we knew we had a gap. We were able to open that branch in October, and we were glad to see that it was very well received by the community. It serves as proof that our branches continue to be a place where customers want to go and meet with our bankers. We learned through the pandemic that many more customers were able to access us through their mobile devices, but physical branches still play an important role on how we go to market for our customers.
We’re also proud of the $20 million Open for Business Fund grant we awarded The Miami Foundation. This $20 million grant aims to help empower nonprofits and small businesses to build generational wealth and assist in the purchase and ownership of critical business assets such as property, equipment and technology. Three unique funding opportunities will come from this program: microgrants to support the purchasing of technology and equipment; a low-interest financing option to acquire vehicles or inventory, renovate and remodel their space; and a Collective Real Estate Ownership (CREO) Funding option, which provides down payment assistance for shared commercial real estate in historically underinvested neighborhoods for community businesses and nonprofits. This $20 million grant was part of five grants that Wells Fargo awarded across the country from the Open for Business Fund, which leverages the proceeds that we received through the PPP loans that were done during the pandemic. Wells Fargo announced early on that we weren’t going to keep any of the fees incurred for processing those loans, and that we would reinvest them back into the small business community.
How are you supporting your clients in an uncertain economy?
Florida’s economy is probably in better shape than other places. It’s one of the fastest growing states in the nation. We’ve recovered from the pandemic at a faster rate than other states. I think there are many factors behind that, including the regulatory environment and business environment. Inflation is a reality across the nation which is causing us to step up. Financial planning is much more important today than it was previously. This environment, as the Fed continues to fight against inflation rising rates, seems daunting for households and small business owners, but it doesn’t have to be. We’re here to help them navigate through these times. In order to do that, we’re spending a lot of time training our employees. Many of our employees have never worked in an interest rate environment like the one we’re seeing and for many of them, as well as many of our customers, they see today’s interest rates as being very high compared to what they’ve been for the last 10 years. Some of us have been around a little bit longer. I remember double digit CD rates and double-digit mortgage rates. Our rates today aren’t that high, but they’re higher than they were, and people weren’t necessarily prepared for that. They don’t know how to plan for it. It gives us an opportunity to visit their investing, their tax planning and their retirement planning. People are having to consider postponing retirement, they need to think about their expenses for this year, make a budget and stick to it.
How has demand for services changed since the pandemic?
Pre-pandemic, people walked into the bank for a lot of things that they could do for themselves. The pandemic forced people to rethink how they do that on their phone or over the phone. I’ll give you my personal example. I stopped going to the grocery store, and instead, I order my groceries on my phone using a mobile app and it arrives at my door. That happened because of the pandemic; I wouldn’t have considered it before that. Customers are walking into our branches more for us to provide them advice and guidance than they did before. Before they would come in for a lot of transactional activities that they can do at an ATM or on their phone. Now they’re coming in and we’re talking about refinancing their home, or what they need to do to buy a home.
Although interest rates are higher, the value of homes in South Florida are higher, the inventory of available homes is lower. You have to balance that with the fact that people are paying these really high rental or lease rates on their homes. Some customers don’t know that they can still afford to buy a house. Our branches are becoming advice centers more than transactional centers.
How do you build company culture in the face of labor shortages?
The timing of the labor shortage couldn’t be any worse. It hit us in the middle of the pandemic. Between people looking for other things to do and people being sick with the virus, keeping things running was a challenge that was not unique to Wells Fargo or our industry, but a reality for everyone. The first thing we did was listen to our employees. That’s a culture that we’ve been building. We have to listen to the people who actually do the job. We have simplified processes and procedures; we’ve improved our products and our services to our customers because of the input we get from our employees. In listening to them, we also find ways to be able to engage them.
We do a lot in terms of diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as developing our employees. But we need to get down to individuals. I have over 1100 employees. I’ll be out in branches and I’ll talk to groups of people, but until you’re sitting across from somebody one on one, it’s not the same. You’re trying to figure out what makes them tick, what are their aspirations, what are their challenges? I care for every one of those employees, but I don’t know what’s going on with each and every one of them. I have to depend on my nine district managers and our 118 branch managers so everyone is a part of that solution. We have some great benefits, we help people with their education from a tuition reimbursement standpoint, with their family planning. But if we don’t know them, sometimes the person may not know that we have a benefit that they can take advantage of. Really listening, getting to know people, engaging them, developing them, is vital. Not everyone is going to be me, who has been here for 37 years. I am here because there are people who cared about me, who spent time with me, who got to figure out what was important to me and provided me with that support. I want everybody to have the same benefits that I have.
What new programs have been influential in the last year?
Last year, we published our inaugural Diversity, Equity and Inclusion report highlighting our internal progress and the work that we’re doing in supporting underserved communities. We also have this program called GLIDE that we relaunched, which allows people who’ve left the workforce to return. These can be moms that have left the workforce to go and have children or countless other situations. We’ve just completely expanded everything we’re doing around caring for our employees, it’s part of our DNA, it’s our day to day.
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