OSWEGO — Pathfinder Bank recently announced it has named Regina Bass first vice president and corporate controller. 

In this role, Bass will continue to oversee the bank’s corporate-accounting function and is responsible for both internal and external regulatory financial reporting, including Securities & Exchange Commission filings, for the bank and its subsidiaries. She also serves “as a cornerstone in the bank’s strategic planning structure, working closely with senior management to craft and implement crucial initiatives. With her expertise and agility, Bass continues to enhance the bank’s standing in the ever-changing financial environment,” the bank said in a news release.

Bass joined Pathfinder Bank in 2022, initially serving as VP, financial-analysis manager, before advancing to the role of corporate controller in 2023. Prior to these roles, Bass worked for 13 years at the Bonadio Group, most recently serving as tax principal. Additionally, Bass worked as a tax manager at both KPMG LLP and PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP.

“We are proud to recognize Regina with this promotion,” Walter Rusnak, Pathfinder’s senior VP and chief financial officer, said in the release. “Since joining Pathfinder Bank, Regina has made significant contributions to the bank through her dedication and knowledge of the financial industry. With her leadership and expertise, we look forward to watching her excel in this expanded role.”

Bass is a graduate of Ithaca College and SUNY Oswego, holding a bachelor’s degree in business management and a bachelor’s in accounting, respectively. 

Pathfinder Bank is a New York State chartered commercial bank headquartered in Oswego. The bank is a wholly owned subsidiary of Pathfinder Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: PBHC). The bank has 11 full-service branches located in its market areas consisting of Oswego and Onondaga County.         

SOLVAY — Solvay Bank announced that Lynn Coates has joined its new small-business banking team as a VP, business-banking officer. 

Coates joined Solvay Bank in 2022 on Solvay Bank’s commercial-lending team, where she specialized in commercial lending, investments, and small-business banking.

She has more than 33 years of banking experience and has been in business banking for 10 years. Coates is active in the community and serves as president of the Golden Retriever Club of Central New York and the obedience chair for the Onondaga Kennel Club. She is also a member of Syracuse Executives and serves as a CenterState CEO ambassador. In addition, Coates spends hours volunteering in therapy work with her professional certified golden retriever.

Founded in 1917, Solvay Bank says it is the oldest community bank established in Onondaga County. The bank has nine branch locations in Solvay, Baldwinsville, Camillus, Cicero, DeWitt, Liverpool, North Syracuse, Westvale, and downtown Syracuse — in the State Tower Building. Solvay Bank also has a commercial-lending presence in the Mohawk Valley.      

DeWITT — For businesses that have to hold onto other peoples’ money — think lawyers with escrow accounts and landlords with tenant security deposits — Community Bank N.A. has added a new product to its banking lineup it believes will make things easier.

“We’re really excited about it,” Benjamin Conger, commercial banking officer at Community Bank, says of the addition of ZEscrow, a management tool for escrow accounts. “We’re always trying to look for ways to make banking easier.”

With all the rules and regulations surrounding escrow and other accounts used to hold money, it can almost be a full-time job just staying on top of that, Conger says.

Imagine a property manager of 20 buildings with each building having 10 rental units, he posits as an example. “They have to keep a security deposit for each tenant,” Conger says. The deposits need to be held in their own separate accounts, he adds, which means the property manager has to go to the bank and open a new account each time there is a new tenant.

Property managers aren’t the only ones who manage such accounts. Lawyers might be holding money in escrow for a client. Even funeral homes that take pre-payment for services need to properly manage those funds, Conger notes.

Managing means keeping detailed records for each account. Many might just use something like a spreadsheet, Conger says,

“It’s not an efficient way to do it,” he says. That’s where a digital platform like ZEscrow can help those who need to hold on to someone else’s money.

With ZEscrow, clients can use the platform to open new accounts, deposit checks, run a variety of reports, and even print statements. For accounts requiring a W-9, ZEscrow will generate that form to be completed. “There’s a place where you can upload the lease for the tenant,” or other documents, Conger says. There is even a way to bulk upload that old spreadsheet to get started on ZEscrow, he adds.

“It’s just extremely easy to use,” Conger says. “The onboarding is very easy.”

The idea to add ZEscrow came from the bank’s treasury-management division, which oversees how money comes into and out of the bank, he says. Those employees were able to see the trends and started the process of looking for a banking solution for those escrow accounts.

At Community Bank, ZEscrow is included with the bank’s Premier Business Connect Online commercial accounts. “If you have that, it’s a free add-on service,” Conger says. Using the service through Community Bank not only makes managing escrow easier, but also comes with the bank’s team and their expertise.

“We’re always looking to help customers,” he says. Conger believes using ZEscrow will save the bank’s customers time, which will free them up to focus on their business and its growth and profits.

The service adds value for existing customers, and Conger hopes it will attract new customers to the bank at a time when it’s expanding its branch presence, especially in Onondaga County.

“Any time we can add new customers, we love that,” Conger says.

Community Bank is part of Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE: CBU) and operates about 200 branch locations in New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Massachusetts.