01945 Summer 2021

Tellers tend to their customers' banking needs at National Grand Bank in Marblehead.
PHOTOS: SPENSER HASAK
Fiercely independent
BY MIKE SHANAHAN
Change comes slowly to
National Grand Bank, the
190-year-old Marblehead
institution that is one of the few truly
independent banks still on the North
Shore. But you get a sense that is
exactly how the bank — and its nearly
225 shareholders — like things. Stable,
conventional and predictable.
Those characteristics have served the
bank well since its founding in 1831
as Grand Bank, a name that is less
presumptuous than it might sound when
you consider the source of its initial
deposits. The bank began as a refuge for
the hard-earned profits of Marblehead’s
principal trade at the time — fishermen
who farmed the sea in a place called
the Grand Banks, an abundant fishing
ground nearly 1,000 miles east of
Marblehead, off Newfoundland. The
“National” was added to the name when
the bank got its federal charter in 1864.
Fishing was a serious engine of the
New England economy in the 1830s —
so much so that Marblehead was one
of the 60 largest cities in the United
States at the time. The Grand Bank
came to be because the local fleet wanted
more control over their finances, a local
institution which avoids speculation
and would be there for them in good
times and in bad. That philosophy hasn’t
changed much in the intervening years.
The bank takes pride in the fact that
when you call its headquarters during
working hours a real person answers every
call. And you will not find the bank leading
the charge on changes in technology,
either. Sure, they have services like online
banking and mobile deposits, but they don’t
feel the need to be first in implementing
innovation. The last “tweet” on their
Twitter account was posted in 2014.
“We prefer to let the big guys sort out
the technology challenges and then we
follow,” NGB president Jim Nye explains.
“You don’t come to a bank our size with
our culture expecting us to be on the
The mantra that National Grand Bank CEO Jim Nye lives by.
cutting edge of technology, and we’re
comfortable with that. You come because
you know us, we know you, and we can
be trusted.”
And while other banks are bent on
growth through new branches, new
products and acquisitions, that’s not
NGB’s style, either. In fact, they lasted
131 years in their first headquarters
building on Hooper Street before they
made a bold move in 1962 by buying the
abandoned Boston & Maine Railroad
station on Pleasant Street, where they
built their current quarters in 1963. For
all those years, the bank operated with a
single banking office.
“We’re centrally located in a small
town — we think it’s helpful for our
customers to have us all here in one
place. If there is a question or a problem
we can walk down the hall and come up
with a solution,” said Nye. “Marblehead
is our market. We don’t need growth for
growth’s sake.”
That said, the bank did open its first
“branch” in 2002 when the new high
school opened at Tent’s Corner. Inspired
by a suggestion from longtime business
education teacher Joan Stomatuk,
the bank operates a limited service
branch, operated by students under the
supervision of the bank’s Matt Martin.
But don’t expect to see any additional,
traditional branches. As Nye pointed out,
“Expansion is not on our agenda.”
The agenda for the bank is managed
by an unusually active Board of
Directors. The group of six directors,
plus Nye, meets every other Tuesday to
personally review the details and approve
most loans. Competitive institutions
generally delegate that responsibility to
management, but that’s not the practice
at NGB. Like the bank, the board is
very stable. Its last new member joined
in 2014, and two current directors have
served since the 1980s.
“Our board knows our customers and
knows our market, so they help us make
better lending decisions,” explained Nye.
“And if a customer gets into trouble, they