Farrell Named President & CEO of First Chatham Bank

October 29, 2018

First Chatham Bank, Savannah’s locally owned and operated community bank, announced today that Kenneth R. Farrell has been elected President & Chief Executive Officer of the bank.

With a career spanning over 40 years, Farrell joined the Bank as Executive Vice President and Senior Credit Officer in 2006, following an executive tenure with Barnett Bank and later Bank of America. Most recently Farrell served as Interim CEO during a transition period for the Bank.

A graduate of Florida State University, Farrell has been involved in numerous community and professional organizations throughout Southeast Georgia including the United Way, YMCA of Coastal Georgia, Jekyll Island Foundation, Boy Scouts of America, College of Coastal Georgia Foundation, Executive Association of Savannah, Savannah Chamber of Commerce CEO Council and Rotary International.  He has also served as the Chairman of the Glynn County Development Authority and was a 2001 graduate of Leadership Georgia.

“We are very pleased to have Ken serve as President & CEO on a permanent basis.” Said FCB Financial Corp. Chairman, Steve Green.  “He has been a strong and capable leader and has been instrumental in helping to lead our bank out from under a formal Regulatory Order which was recently terminated.”  “The Board of Directors is extremely confident in his ability to lead our bank, not only through the challenging times but also in prosperous times.”  Benny Curl, First Chatham Bank’s Chairman, indicated that “Farrell is an invaluable part of our team and has demonstrated outstanding leadership over the past four years as Interim CEO.” “He is committed to our values and we are excited about the future of our bank under his guidance.”  

In his permanent role, Farrell will be responsible for the day-to-day management of the bank, its overall financial performance and its long-term growth strategy which includes the banks successful SBA Lending function.   Farrell will continue to lead the company as it delivers on its mission of building customer relationships through integrity and trust.

Farrell commented, “I am honored to be afforded this opportunity and, in the faith and trust the Board of Directors have placed upon me.  I look forward to continuing the momentum that the Bank has established and to serve our customers, associates and shareholders in this capacity.”  

Farrell, and his wife Vonny, have two grown children and four grandchildren. They make their home in Chatham County.

About First Chatham Bank

Headquartered and operated in Savannah, GA with 7 locations in Chatham, Effingham, Bryan and Glynn counties, First Chatham Bank opened in January 2002, becoming the first community bank chartered in Chatham County since 1989.  The Bank’s deposits are FDIC insured and it prides itself in providing businesses and individuals quality lending and banking services.  The vision of local business leaders and with a leadership team of over 200 years’ experience, First Chatham delivers the trust and service that its friends and neighbors have come to expect.  For more information about the First Chatham Family of Banks, please visit www.firstchatham.com

Introducing EnFact

The First Chatham Family of Banks is pleased to introduce EnFact, a text messaging service to alert customers of any suspicious or fraudulent activity with their accounts.

In the coming days, customers should start receiving a text message asking them to enroll. The message should appear as:

First Chatham Bank Fraud Alerts. Reply
YES to enroll. Reply HELP for
help, STOP to cancel. Msg & Data
Rates May Apply.

Please be assured, this message is legitimate and is coming from the new service in which the Bank is offering to our valued customers. This service is ideal for those customers who want to take an active part in monitoring the transactions on their account. Anytime there is questionable activity, they will be alerted via text. It’s that simple!

Although there is no obligation to participate, we strongly encourage our customer to take advantage of this exciting new service!

First Chatham Bank Joins New ATM Network!

The First Chatham Family of Banks is proud to announce that we are now part of the Presto! Network of ATMs.

In addition to any FCB ATM, our customers can now enjoy cash withdrawals, balance inquiries, and account transfers, all SURCHARGE-FREE, at more than 1,100 Presto! ATMs conveniently located at any Publix Super Market. For more information, please visit their website at www.publix.com/presto.

This new partnership adds additional banking locations throughout our community and adds convenience for our customers! We are True Community!

Announcing FCB Digital Marketing

The First Chatham Family of Banks is pleased to announce the launching of FCB Digital Marketing. As a valued part of our family, periodically, you will receive an email from FCB Digital Marketing (marketing@firstchatham.com), which will provide a glimpse into the happenings around FCB. Whether it’s announcing a new product, a promotion, or even thanking you for being part of our family, it’s our way of staying in touch with you, and reminding you that you are important to us! Don’t worry, we still want to see you in person at any of our convenient locations, but now we can keep in touch “digitally!” If you would rather not receive our emails, that’s ok, you can unsubscribe at any time. We are constantly trying to develop ways to improve our service to better serve you! We are “True Community.”

Online Banking Upgrade

The First Chatham Family of Banks is pleased to announce our recent upgrade to Retail Online™ Version 5.1.

Current login credentials and security questions will remain the same.

The new version offers the following enhancements:

• Updated Login Page – The sign-in process is streamlined with all log-in activity located on the homepage of FCB’s website, thus allowing more convenience and simplicity to our customers.
• Simplified Homepage – Presenting the most commonly used functions at login makes it easier and more efficient for our customers to bank online. Customers can now easily access account balances, transfers, recent transactions, and bill payments right from the home screen. The presentation of transactions from newest to oldest without having to select current or previous statement makes it easier to review and monitor transaction activity.
• Intuitive Navigation – All features including transfers and transaction activity, are now part of a single customer experience. Managing activity from one page makes finding and performing transactions faster and more efficient.
• Transaction History Layout – Combining transaction history onto a single page/view makes it easier for customers to find, view, and track activity.
• Simplified and Improved Transfer Feature – Customers can now access the express and scheduled transfers within the same workflow, enabling quicker initiation of one-time and recurring transfers.
• Bill Pay Integration – Bill Pay no longer launches in a second browser window, providing convenience and more security to our customers.
• Responsive Design – Responsive design provides an optimal customer experience on a tablet, phone, desktop or laptop, regardless of screen size, resolution, and orientation. Our customers can now do their banking anytime, anywhere, on any device.
• End User Guidance – Provides additional detail our customers may need to perform functions like ordering checks and making stop payments.

If you have any questions regarding the new Online Banking version, including access ID and password issues, please contact your local branch. Contact information can be found here: branch locations.

Introducing CardValet®

The First Chatham Family of Banks is pleased to introduce CardValet®, a mobile card management application that helps reduce fraud by allowing cardholders to monitor accounts with their smartphone and control how, when and where their debit card is used.

CardValet was developed in partnership with Fiserv and is available in the Apple® App Store or Google® Play. Once CardValet is set up, cardholders have the ability to “turn off” their card when not in use, establish transaction spending limits and decline a transaction when the amount exceeds a predefined threshold.

Real-time smartphone alerts can be customized based on the types of information each cardholder would like to receive. For example, a cardholder can set up an alert to be notified when a card is used, when a transaction is approved and exceeds any of the permitted use policies, or when a card transaction has been attempted but has been declined based on the parameters established.

CardValet offers cardholders the capability of linking additional accounts to better monitor dependent spending. For example, by using the GPS system in their smart phone, geographic use restrictions can be established for college students along with restrictions on merchant type and spending limits.

CardValet is also ideal for small businesses. All transactions can be monitored or controlled for specific merchant categories, such as travel, restaurants or entertainment, and can be denied or reported for types of merchants deemed not business-related.

“CardValet is ideal for users who want to actively manage their cards. CardValet’s inventive and thoughtful approach to card management makes the user experience as easy as possible,” said Sharon Spradley, Retail Banking Services Manager. "We are excited to offer this tool to our cardholders! Not only is CardValet user-friendly and convenient, but it will aid in our continued efforts to prevent fraud and identity theft for our cardholders."