Saints Avenue Bank Taps Hawthorn River Lending to Support Bank's Rapid Growth

ST. LOUIS, March 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Hawthorn River, the developer of Loan Origination Software for community banks, today announced that Saints Avenue Bank implemented the Hawthorn River Lending Solution to streamline its lending process as the bank prepares for the next stage of growth.

Hawthorn River Lending equips community banks with an end-to-end loan workflow solution that automates manual processes, reduces data entry requirements, and monitors regulatory requirements in real-time. Further value is added through advanced document management, integrated credit spreading, automated writeup generation, and engaging client portals. This functionality is wrapped into an easy to use solution that is accessible to community banks.

Saints Avenue Bank, a $100M business-oriented community bank in North East Missouri, has experienced record growth the past three years. Since taking the helm as CEO in August of 2016, Mr. Chuck Leuck led the organization through double-digit annualized asset growth by retooling the bank to serve the financial needs of family owned business and their owner families. During this period, the bank expanded into St. Charles Missouri, elevated its commercial lending and treasury management capabilities, and overhauled its digital delivery channel.

The recipe is working but with growth comes new challenges. "Our long-standing lending processes were not designed for scale and we were drowning with the growth," said Mr. Leuck. "Our options were to add more people or think differently about how we manage our end-to-end operations – we chose the latter." 

Mr. Leuck, a veteran of community banking, understands the power of leveraging technology to drive process improvement so he began investigating software solutions to support his growth. He quickly realized a void exists in the software market for sub-$1B community banks, stating, "We found the existing lending solutions to be out of reach – they were too complex and too expensive. We needed a solution that was right-sized for community banking."

Jon Rigsby, CEO of Hawthorn River, said, "Troubling as it may be, community banks are generally ignored by the financial technology software industry as smaller banks are perceived to be unprofitable. We founded Hawthorn River to fill this void. Every aspect of our business is built with the community banker in mind."

With the deployment of Hawthorn River Lending, Saints Avenue Bank freed up valuable human resources to support the bank's growth. Mr. Rigsby said the relationship with Saints Avenue Bank "exemplifies the positive impact we seek to have on community banking."

About Saints Avenue Bank

Saints Avenue Bank is a $100M community bank that serves the financial needs of family owned businesses in the Northeast Missouri market. The bank brings a unique mix of a consultative engagement approach with a high-touch, technology-enabled service model. Saints Avenue Bank has operations in St. Charles, Hannibal, New London, and Center, Missouri. For information, visit www.saintsavenuebank.com.

About Hawthorn River

Hawthorn River is community banking software designed by community bankers. Our mission is to position community banks to remain competitive and independent in a rapidly consolidating industry. From streamlining the end-to-end lending process to automating specific steps along the way, Hawthorn River helps community banks increase productivity, reduce regulatory risk and elevate the borrower experience. For information, visit www.hawthornriver.com.

MEDIA CONTACT

Hawthorn River
Jon Rigsby
(314) 220-5009
[email protected] 

SOURCE Hawthorn River