What Our Clients Say

Lodestone provides the ability to uncover and deliver earnings across an organization that would otherwise be lost. Lodestone examines detailed system parameters and traces transactions from the point of initiation through to the general ledger. This level of analysis also provides control assurances from a Sarbanes Oxley perspective.

A little over 5 years ago, American Chartered Bank hired Lodestone to partner with our bank to identify and implement income enhancing and cost reduction opportunities. Since the implementation of your recommendations, the bank has realized incremental revenue of $2.5 million dollars annually. Over the past 5 years, well over $12 million dollars of incremental revenue can be attributed to your recommendations. The level of service you provided far exceeded any other consulting firm we have ever had at the bank. It is rare to meet people that are not only excellent at their jobs, but also a pleasure to work with.

I have had the pleasure of working with the President, Shahin Clark, for many years when she was employed by Marine Midland Bank, a subsidiary of HSBC Holdings plc. Ms. Clark worked closely with the Commercial Lending and Operations Support groups across New York State to develop a systematic process to both manage existing relationships while freeing up time to strategically expand our marketshare. Ms. Clark's knowledge of commercial banking, systems and operations is significant, and her efforts resulted in both efficiencies and cost savings.

I want to thank you and the Lodestone team for a very successful revenue enhancement project. The project was completed very quickly. Your team worked effectively with GreenPoint management in identifying key opportunities and then conducted detailed and thorough analyses to evaluate the full scope of the opportunities. Your team was helpful in identifying ways to implement these ideas, and we are already enjoying the direct benefits.

I am very pleased with the recommendations from Lodestone's first AEM profit improvement project and have decided to immediately go forward with their recommended second AEM project. Lodestone guaranteed Provident $1,000,000 in savings, and we considered that a strong incentive to consider their services. Lodestone attained the goal of identifying $1,000,000 for the first AEM project. I believe that Lodestone Banking has exceeded representations made, and I highly recommend their work. I would be glad to speak with anyone that is seriously considering an engagement with Lodestone.

Thank you for assisting First Tennessee Bank National Association with the identification of measures for improvement of First Tennessee's pre-tax annual income. Through the engagement, Lodestone identified and delivered solution proposals that met and exceeded its performance guarantee.

Renasant Bank engaged Lodestone Banking to conduct an 8-week onsite forensic revenue analysis based on several presentations by Lodestone, a recommendation from a past client, and Lodestone's guarantee of at least $1 million in estimated benefits. At the end of the engagement Lodestone presented recommendations that significantly exceeded the $1 million guarantee. In addition to the additional revenue, Lodestone was able to help us better understand how we are set up on our core banking systems and how small system changes can correct erroneous settings and produce additional revenue without the need for extensive programming. Our Deposit Operations Manager said it best: 'They actually did what they said they would do.'

In June 2006, Lodestone Banking Consultancy began an "Advanced Earnings Methodology" project at Partners Trust Bank. After a two month engagement Lodestone made nineteen recommendations and Partners Trust accepted, in whole or in part, eleven of those suggestions. Lodestone used a very methodical and business-like approach in working with our team during the engagement. They kept all of their promises regarding the involvement of our staff and senior management. On a day-to-day basis we worked most closely with Shahin Clark and Scott Bass who have a thorough understanding of our industry and brought extraordinary experience to our project. I would be happy to discuss our positive experience with Lodestone.

Lodestone recently completed a very successful revenue enhancement engagement for Superior Bank using their AEM methodology. Lodestone presented over fifteen recommendations. All represented sound banking and all were taken seriously by management. Lodestone's meetings with our operations staff and management team were highly focused and efficient, and they completed the project in the timeframe specified. The feedback I received from my senior managers is that Lodestone's consultants were sensitive to our employees' time, were friendly and easy to work with, and had great command of our operating system and banking knowledge.

I considered Shahin Clark's commercial banking knowledge extensive. The recommendations in the commercial area alone added $2 million to our institution's annual income. We selected Lodestone for many reasons including personalized treatment, experience, willingness to work on a commission basis, and recommendations from other institutions. Lodestone completed six separate project engagements for our institution.

I'd like to thank you on behalf of the senior management team here at Sun National Bank for the work you have done as part of the revenue enhancement project. The thoroughness of your project in digging into the core system I found to be amazing and you gave us ideas and recommendations that we would never have uncovered on our own. Each of the recommendations that we are implementing will be adding revenue, not only for the time period that we are implementing them, but also for succeeding time periods. I will be more than happy to act as a reference for the services you provide.

Chemung Financial recently found, with the help of Lodestone as an outside consultant, nearly $1.5 million in annual pre-tax revenue opportunities that the company had been missing out on. This is not a one-time windfall, not a one-time accounting adjustment, not a major new product line, not a layoff—it's an ongoing gain. It is the result of correcting 'tribal law,' adjusting practices to fit alternative industry approaches, closing open loops that actually prevented revenue from being collected, and bringing daily bank practice in line with what the bank had already been disclosing as its policies.