Michael Esses and Ayesha Hafeez October 20, 2010

Fairfield County Bank

1. What is the name of the bank and its local address?

The name of the bank is Fairfield County Bank. The nearest local
address is 850 East Main Street.

2. Where is its headquarters located?

Its headquarters are in Ridgefield, CT.

3. When did it receive its charter?

The bank received its charter to operate as Fairfield County Bank in

2004, when it merged.

4. How many branches does it have in Connecticut?

Fairfield County Bank has 25 branches in Fairfield County.

5. Is this bank located in other states or internationally? If so,

where?

This bank is a county bank and is not found anywhere outside of

Fairfield County.

6. Is your bank planning to open any new branches in the near

future?

This bank currently doesn’t have any plans on opening any new
branches.

7. Does your bank have subsidiaries? If so, what are they?

Fairfield County Bank does have subsidiaries. They include Fairfield

County Bank Insurances Services, LLC. and Fairfield County Financial
Services.

8. Is it a state or a national bank?

This bank is a county bank. It is found in the state of Connecticut, but

only in Fairfield County.

9. Is this a savings/thrift bank or a commercial bank?

Michael Esses and Ayesha Hafeez October 20, 2010

Fairfield County Bank is more of a savings and thrift bank. The bank is
a mutual holding company, which means

10. How many people does the bank employ?

The bank employs slightly over 250 people between all of its branches.

11. Has your bank ever merged with another bank? If yes, with
whom did it merge, and has it merged more than once?

A merger between Ridgefield Bank and Fairfield County Savings Bank

produced Fairfield County Bank. It has also merged with Bank of
Westport and Bank of Westport.

12. What was the name before the merger?

The names before the mergers were Fairfield County Savings Bank and
Ridgefield Bank.

13. Is your bank organized as a corporation and does it have

shareholders?

Fairfield County Bank is a private corporation; therefore it does not

have shareholders.

14. Where does your bank rank among banks in Connecticut,

in the U.S. or in the world?

In Connecticut, Fairfield County Bank is ranked number eight.

15. Do you consider your bank to be a small, mid-size, or large

bank?

Fairfield County Bank is considered a mid-sized bank. It is considered

one of the largest banks headquartered in Connecticut.

16. What are your sources of revenue?

Fairfield County Bank offers services to individual consumers and

businesses. It provides insurances services and investment services.
The bank performs basic practices such as giving loans, holding
deposits and wire transfers along with providing other services such as
dealing with stocks, bonds, mutual funds, annuities and retirement
accounts. Also, Fairfield Country Bank has an insurance branch which
deals with issuing personal insurance such as for automobiles, boats
and homeowners. Another type of insurance service the bank provides
Michael Esses and Ayesha Hafeez October 20, 2010

is business insurance such as for commercial automobiles and

workmen’s compensation. Along with these the bank also deals with
Life and Health Insurance and Employee Benefits policies. These
services are all sources of revenue. The bank charges fees and also
profits due to the spread between the interest paid to depositors and
interest received on loans.

17. What is one thing this bank offers that other banks in the
area do not offer? Why would a person choose to do his/her
banking with this bank?

In Fairfield County, Fairfield County Bank is a one-stop shop for

insurance, banking and investment needs. They offer a variety of
services in each field and offer an extensive rewards program in which
they are partnered with VISA with. Customers can sign up for the
program and receive a VISA card and receive points, which are
redeemable for various rewards as they use the card.

18. Does your bank work in niche markets? If so, what are
they?

Fairfield County Bank does not work in niche markets.

19. Describe the services the bank provides to its customers.

Fairfield County Bank provides a variety of services to its customers.

They offer different account types. They offer investment, personal
banking, insurance, and business services.

20. Does your bank have a mission statement? If so, what is it

or do you have a copy of it?

Fairfield County Bank does have a mission statement. It is:

21. Does your bank have a logo and what does it represent?

Fairifled County Bank’s logo represents an old 19th century bank. It is

white inscribed in a blue circle.

22. Was your bank impacted by the mortgage crisis that began
Michael Esses and Ayesha Hafeez October 20, 2010

in the summer of 2007? If so, in what ways? Did the bank receive
money from the government and what did your bank do to help
overcome the crisis?

The bank was impacted by the mortgage crisis that began in the
summer of 2007. Fairfield County Bank lost a substantial amount of
money in the market. However, the bank isn’t too heavily invested so
the bank didn’t turn under. The bank did not receive money from the
government. All the bank could do to overcome the crisis was reduce
costs and give fewer loans.

23. There has been a lot of news lately about hidden fees and
cost on debit cards, credit cards, and other services passed on
the customers. How is your bank dealing with this issue?

Fairfield County Bank doesn’t have hidden fees. All fees the bank
charges for are posted where the customers can see them.

24. What documentation standards are required for opening

any account?

25. How do you identify and target your customers?

As a well-established bank, Fairfield County Bank hasn’t needed much

promotion. They have special promotions around the year. For
example, they are offering up to $200 in “signing bonuses”.

26. Do you offer your customers incentives or ways to save

money by banking with you?

The rewards program allows the customers to receive rewards as they

use their bank credit card.

27. What type of community outreach or philanthropy has your

bank done?

Fairfield County Bank is a proud sponsor of Danbury Whalers Hockey

and also offered a sweepstakes to the community in which they gave
away either $1,000 Mutual Fund or $1,000 to a 529 Plan or $1,000
donation to charity.

28. What career opportunities are available within your bank?

The bank has many different types of employees. The bank employs
Michael Esses and Ayesha Hafeez October 20, 2010

investment experts who help customers with their investment

portfolios, bank tellers, mangers and insurance agent.

29. After your interview and research, which of the bank’s

services do you think are the most important to your town or
community?

The most important banking services are auto loans and residential
mortgages. These two things are unavoidable. It’s absolutely
necessary that banks can help their customers with this.

30. What was your impression of this bank? Would you bank
there or recommend it to your parents or to a friend? Why?

The bank gave a very good impression. It appears to be a well-

established bank with great customer service. The employees are very
understanding and sympathetic, as they are customers of banks too. It
is probably that larger banks can offer more as their assets are much
greater.