Sky Bank

One of the important factors in determining the financial strength and service quality of a bank is its holding company. Aside from the independent financial achievement of the bank, the holding company also contributes in maintaining or further strengthening the asset of the subsidiary bank. The holding company also dictates what service philosophies to implement and directs the overall direction of the business that would benefit the entire company including its subsidiaries. So in choosing a bank it would also be helpful to look at the company that holds it as one can easily get a glimpse of what to expect from the bank in terms of service and financial management skills. Of course, this does not apply to independent banks, which do not have a holding company.

If you are living in Ohio, one of the potential banks that you could choose to go banking with is Sky Bank, a community development bank headquartered in Salineville, Ohio. However, there are also Sky Bank locations in western Pennsylvania, southern Michigan, central Indiana, and northern West Virginia. The bank offers consumer and commercial banking, which include acceptance of a variety of demand, savings, and time deposits as well as lending of consumer and commercial loans. It sounds like just other banks but what makes it more is the holding company it belongs and the major business move it recently undertook.

Sky Bank is the bank subsidiary of the $17.7 billion financial holding company Sky Financial Group Incorporated or simply called Sky Financial, which is based in Bowling Green also in Ohio. The financial holding company was also being ranked as the 43rd largest in the United States employing about 4330 people.

Aside from being a big company, Sky Financial takes a noble corporate philosophy of rendering locally oriented and community-based financial services that is further empowered by a strong centralized support group. In fact, to achieve this community-based approach in local banking, the advisory board of the company is comprised of local business people, professionals, and other community representatives. So how does this work? Sky Bank focuses on client and business development services while relying upon the support of Sky Financial for operational functions that are not readily available to clients in the bank level such as asset quality review, internal audit, and compliance and funds management, among others.

With these in hand, Sky Bank takes pride in serving the communities on where they are located with utmost top quality services. In fact, on the Sky Bank web site, the bank highlights its commitment to community banking through local financing programs, which helped many people own homes for the first time as well as assisting them to start a new business. The bank believes that revitalizing the local economy would better help them grow as a company.

Today, Sky Bank operates about 330 branches and over 400 ATMs all throughout its locations with barely 10 years in the banking industry.

The Sky Bank name, however, will soon become obsolete as its holding company recently merged with Huntington Bancshares Incorporated, a regional bank holding company that is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. Huntington has over 380 banking offices and almost 1,000 ATMs spread in and outside of Ohio namely in Michigan, West Virginia, Indiana, and Kentucky.

With over 140 years of existence, Huntington was seen by Sky Bank Financial as an ideal fit to their company. Both banks share the same culture, values, markets, and clients. The merger promises to render existing clients and would-be clients of both banks better services such as greater product portfolio, improved delivery channels, and robust technology.

The Sky Bank name is set to change on the third quarter of 2007.