Your Story
Strong community financial institutions have helped America grow since our country was founded. Independent community banks and credit unions are the bedrock of America's unique entrepreneurial society.
You've survived margin compression, competition from big-box banking, and increased regulation. Now rapid technological change threatens your very existence. These new challenges demand more powerful strategies and assertive decisions, but unfortunately many institutions are still taking a conservative approach—addressing questions of the future with answers from the past. Ironically, these safe decisions often compound risk rather than reduce it. As a result, a surprising number of institutions have made themselves less relevant.
We work with institutions like yours to make stronger and more-informed decisions that will help you to continue on the path to independence.
Mission and Values
We exist to inspire financial decision makers to pursue the Path of Great Performance™ and help them achieve results that surpass those they would otherwise attain.
Integrity
Integrity is the foundation of all that we do and is imbedded in our DNA. We are uncompromising in our adherence to our morals, and maintain honesty and accuracy in our actions. We do the right thing, always, even when nobody is looking.
Excellence
Excellence is the confident pursuit of the highest quality. We demand more of ourselves than our clients do. Our commitment to excellence coupled with our dedication to integrity means our clients always know we're acting in their best interest.
Teamwork
Our teamwork extends beyond the internal collaboration and collective performance most companies strive for. We view teamwork more broadly, working with our clients, vendors, and internal team members to achieve a common goal with excellence, integrity, and results at the forefront. We believe that together everyone achieves more.
Results
If we live our first three core values - integrity, excellence, and teamwork - results will come. Our results come in many forms: mission fulfillment, business success, and growth. At the end of the day, when our partners win, we win.
A History of
Performance Trust
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Our Story
Performance Trust was built on the vision and passion of our founders. A former math teacher, Rich Berg, and bank regulator, Phil Nussbaum, saw the main street mission of community financial institutions threatened by Wall Street financial engineering. Driven by an unwavering commitment to analytical truth, they exposed critical flaws in the tools used to measure risk and reward and provided analysis and insights that led to better decisions.
From its inception in 1994, our firm has been focused on two objectives: building accurate and revolutionary analytics that measure the risks and rewards of investment portfolio securities, and building an educational platform that identifies ways to achieve improved results.
As time passed, our analytical capabilities grew alongside our clients and team. We provide advice on decisions affecting the entire balance sheet and capital stack of an institution. Our analytics continue to evolve, and commitment to education has become fundamental to our business and clients. In addition to hosting custom strategy sessions for over 50 management teams per year, we also create educational programs for executive boards and other stakeholders across the country.
Today, Performance Trust is the largest full-service investment bank focused on community depository institutions. Our scale and capabilities have increased significantly, but we still get up each morning with the same mission we had in 1994:
We're here to help community financial institutions make better decisions.