1. Community Bank Attracts Top Commercial
Lenders with Competitive Retirement Benefits
Case
Study:

2. Case Study: Community Bank Attracts Top Commercial Lenders With Competitive Retirement Benefits | meyerchatfield.com | 1
CASE STUDY:
Community Bank Attracts Top Commercial Lenders with
Competitive Retirement Benefits
Talented commercial lenders are currently in high
demand; Bank Director’s 2016 Compensation
Survey revealed that finding them is among
the top 3 challenges for bank directors and
executives.
Many community banks have had difficulty
attracting and retaining lenders because there is
so much competition, and larger banks can offer
very competitive compensation packages. This
case study examines a community banking client
that sought the help of Compensation Advisors in
attracting two commercial lenders.
The Client: A southeastern community
bank
The client was a southeastern community bank
based one hour outside of a major metropolitan
area. They had less than $1B in assets and
approximately 250 employees, and they were a
profitable and continually growing bank.
The community bank was already a client of
Compensation Advisors because they had
converted their existing non-qualified retirement
plans to Compensation Advisors’ LINQS+
product.
The Challenge: The bank wanted to
attract two commercial lenders who
were hesitant about the compensation a
community bank could provide
In 2014, the southeastern community bank
wanted to attract talented commercial lenders. In
particular, there were two lenders they had done
business with before who were looking for a job at
a bank. The CEO at the southeastern community
bank wanted to hire these two lenders.

3. Case Study: Community Bank Attracts Top Commercial Lenders With Competitive Retirement Benefits | meyerchatfield.com | 2
When the CEO initially talked to the two lenders,
they were hesitant although they liked the
southeastern community bank. Other, larger
banks were also pursuing the lenders, and they
didn’t think a community bank could afford to
hire them with a competitive retirement package.
The CEO asked them to give him a chance to
work something out and contacted Compensation
Advisors.
The Solution: A LINQS+ Compensation
Strategy Designed by Compensation
Advisors
Compensation Advisors provided consultation for
the southeastern community bank’s CEO. Upon
analyzing the bank’s situation, Compensation
Advisors determined the best solution was
a package that included the lifetime benefit
product LINQS+. To fund the retirement package,
Compensation Advisors designed a strategy that
involved the bank purchasing bank owned life
insurance (BOLI). This also was used to provide a
split dollar life insurance benefit.
What is LINQS+?
Lifetime Income Non-Qualified Solution (LINQS+)
is a proprietary, non-BOLI solution designed by
Meyer-Chatfield Compensation Advisors to spe-
cifically address the expense associated with
Supplemental Executive Retirement Plans (SERP).
LINQS+ can be implemented as a new benefit or
integrated with existing benefit plans for an av-
erage cost savings of 28% over traditional SERP
plans. LINQS+ provides lifetime payment streams
to the participants as benefits that are not contin-
gent upon investment performance.
Why was LINQS+ right for the south-
eastern community bank?
Many banks use stock options as compensation
for executives and other top talent. Most
community banks have multiple stockholders, but
the value of that stock is an unknown factor for
a privately owned bank. Community banks must
look for compensation strategies other than equity
to enable them to compete with larger banks, and
LINQS+ is one answer.
LINQS+ does not present banks and their
employees with an unknown; it enables
community banks to provide a specific dollar
value upon retirement. For a privately owned bank
like the client, using LINQS+ makes more sense
than using equity compensation.

4. Case Study: Community Bank Attracts Top Commercial Lenders With Competitive Retirement Benefits | meyerchatfield.com | 3
The Result: The lenders accepted the
compensation package and joined the
bank, where they played a significant
role in its continued growth
The southeastern community bank’s CEO met
with the two lenders separately and offered
them the compensation package designed by
Compensation Advisors. Both lenders were
curious to hear more about the retirement plan
because the other competing banks weren’t
offering anything like it; they were offering
equity compensation. Though the lenders were
still concerned about how the community bank
could pay for the retirement plan, they became
comfortable with it once they understood the
financial strategy behind it.
The two lenders accepted
the offer and booked about
$30M of new business for the
southeastern community bank
during their first few months of
employment.
The two lenders decided to accept the offer to
work with the southeastern community bank,
which was very satisfied with what they brought
to the bank. Within their first few months of
employment, the two lenders booked about $30M
of new business for the bank. The lenders were
also satisfied with their employment and their
compensation, and the sentiment they expressed
was that it would take a lot to get them to leave
the southeastern community bank. The bank has
grown considerably in assets since 2014 and is
continuing to grow with the help of its talented
lenders.

5. Case Study: Community Bank Attracts Top Commercial Lenders With Competitive Retirement Benefits | meyerchatfield.com | 4
About Compensation Advisors
The experts at Compensation Advisors have over 50 years of compensation experience at the
community bank level. We leverage that experience to design and implement relevant, innovative
solutions that relate to current regulatory environments. Having worked with over 600 financial
institutions, the firm has the knowledge and expertise to navigate the obstacles associated with
compensation practices. Our primary goal is helping our clients attract and retain key executives and
top performers. Compensation Advisors is a member of the Meyer-Chatfield Group.
Contact us today to get started.
(866) 796 - 6222
compensationadvisors.com