Metuchen Savings Bank CEO Liseno: Community banks are essential

​Given that Katherine Liseno's career at Metuchen Savings Bank encompasses the entirety of her adult life, there's no surprise she's now the longest-serving female bank CEO working in New Jersey.
Liseno started moving up the ranks at Metuchen Savings Bank upon joining the nearly 120-year-old institution in 1962. And, in those 55 years, she saw the industry from a position far below C-level before surfacing in the top spot in 1979.
NJBIZ spoke with Liseno about her career and the perspective she has on the industry she has spent her life in.

​NJBIZ spoke with Liseno about her career and the perspective she has on the industry she has spent her life in.
NJBIZ: Touch on your extensive background with Metuchen Savings Bank?
Katherine Liseno: I started with the bank in (my) junior year of high school and basically never left. I would eventually join the bank full-time after high school graduation. We were a million-dollar institution at the time and I grew with it. I really learned the business from the bottom up.
NJBIZ: How has the sector as a whole changed since you became CEO of the bank 38 years ago?
KL: I’ve seen it evolve in the sense that it has gotten so much more complex with a lot more regulation, over-regulation really. And the story has become that everytime something negative happens in the industry, such as the last financial crisis, small community banks end up paying the price. That price is the massively increased compliance cost, which has contributed to a decline in community banks. Through consolidation, something gets lost — because community banks are essential.
NJBIZ: What other challenges are faced by community banks such as yours these days?
KL: Aside from competition with fintech companies and keeping up with rapidly changing technology, some of the institutions — but this doesn’t necessarily apply to us — have trouble getting qualified employees with the necessary compliance knowledge to meet the new requirements. We have good people on board for it. But it’s a trend — these people are very highly needed and, because it’s of such great demand, there also comes trouble in finding people in the market with that knowledge.
And when it comes to learning about changes in banking, we just don’t have all the access to internal education programs that were available when I was coming up in the business. But there are outside organizations such as NJ Bankers that do a good job of keeping us up to date.
NJBIZ: Have you seen a shift in more opportunities for women in top roles at banks?
KL: You still do notice a big discrepancy at banking conferences, where most of the room is filled with men. Yet, there have always been some women in top leadership roles during my years in the industry. There’s only a handful now, but I see that as partially due to the consolidation. You are seeing more women officers and directors at banks. There aren’t a lot, but you do see them.
I can’t speak for the other banks, but we’ve always had women in top roles here. For a while, we were even getting known as the ‘all-woman bank.’ But what we’re doing is giving people a chance based on their abilities. Our board has always believed in that. So we’ve ended up having a lot of women.
NJBIZ: Anything else you’d be remiss not to mention?
KL: I have to emphasize again the importance of community banks, particularly because they’re in decline. It’s sad, because community banks make decisions on a local level and they’re a part of their communities — as neighbors and friends. We’re entrenched in our communities. And we also offer a lot of the same products and services as the larger banks. Our bankers have had legacy deposits with seniors, but we need that next generation. We need to appeal more to millennials. That’s our goal.