Ozaukee Bank on verge of opening downtown Milwaukee business center

Ozaukee Bank on verge of opening downtown Milwaukee business center

Ozaukee Bank’s Mason Street Business Service Center in downtown Milwaukee is expected to open March 10, according to Dean Fitting, Ozaukee Bank president.

While some members of the management team for the location at 225 E. Mason St. have yet to be identified, the bank has hired an executive to run the location.

"We have hired Bill Werner as president of the Mason Street Business Center," Fitting said. "Bill came to us from US Bank, has been the president of community banks and has run the marketing division of Bank One Milwaukee."

In his most recent position, Werner ran the wealth management division for US Bank in Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa and Nebraska.

Werner said the March 10 date may be optimistic.

"On March 3, we will take the staff we have on board and move things in, unpack the boxes," Werner said. "On March 10, we will see where we are at as far as systems and phones working. We will open either the 10th or the 17th."

Once the location is in fact open, Werner plans to offer business owners a combination of services for closely held businesses and personal banking services that address the links between an entrepreneur’s business and personal finances.

"There is a big difference between being a money vendor and being a banking advisor," Fitting said. "You understand what a client is trying to accomplish and you help them accomplish that. We can also help act as a guide. We’ll be able to help people with everything from commercial lending issues to succession planning. We’re developing our wealth management group, and will have a full trust department and investment management services."

The new location will have teller capabilities, but will not offer traditional consumer banking services.

"If an Ozaukee Bank customer walks in and wants to cash a $100 check, we can do that," Fitting said. "But we won’t be set up to provide the type of service we offer in our other locations."

March 3, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee, by Charles Rathmann, of SBT