Business Spotlight - Malvern Bank

Malvern Bank has experienced an unprecedented period of change and growth over the past decade.

Formerly known as Malvern National Bank and later Malvern Trust & Savings Bank, the 131-year-old financial institution was  renamed and rebranded in January 2017 to reflect  and align with the modernization of the 21st Century services and products being offered at the bank.

“We’ve got all the digital that you’d expect from a bank our size – online banking (malvern.bank), mobile app, mobile deposit, mobile wallet,” said Malvern Bank Human Resources and Marketing Manager Katelin George. “We have a debit card app that helps you control and manage the debit card itself - all those good things.”

George and Chief Financial Officer Chris Gilbert noted that the bank has grown substantially while making a smooth transition to its new name and new brand.

“Obviously, we’re still a small bank – one location. No branches anywhere else, just here,” Gilbert said. “We’re close to $200 million in assets. In 2015, we crossed the $100 million in assets – we’ve doubled in size over the last eight years.”

George added, “Over the last 11 years, we’ve had three expansions of the bank. Obviously, the growth from $100 million to $200 million requires a lot more employees. We renovated and added on a section and then added on another section and we just finished up our third renovation this year.

“We’re at 25 employees now. It was like 10 employees 10 years ago.”

One of the unique reasons for Malvern Bank’s growth is development of its niche online banking division - Dirt Track Bank.

Dirt Track Bank (dirttrack.bank) is a one-of-a-kind online division of the bank devoted to the sport of dirt track auto racing - a passion of Malvern Bank President Jay Burdic and his late father, Allan.

“Jay is into racing and has grown our bank in the racing community quite a bit over the past 10 years,” George said. “That’s where a lot of our growth has come from – the dirt track racing community.

“The division is for dirt track racing fans to support a bank that gives back to the racing community.”

Gilbert said Dirt Track Bank is currently servicing loans from 44 states.

“Jay has done a great job of building that network across the country,” he said. “We’ve created a couple deposit types – basically a savings and a checking account specifically for people that want to support racing.

“The money comes in and gets deposited and it gets either loaned out to people who are involved with dirt track racing or for sponsorships. We do a lot of sponsorships in the racing community.”

Ownership of Malvern Bank has been in the Burdic family since 1946, when Jay’s grandfather Eugene “E.W.” Burdic acquired a majority portion of the financial institution.  Eugene was succeeded by his son Allan and later his grandson Jay.

One constant during the Burdic family’s ownership of the bank is its support of the Malvern community.

“As a community bank, that’s what we’re here for,” George said. “We’re here to serve the community and Jay does a great job of that. He really contributes to and supports a lot of things he sees that adds value to living in Malvern or the community itself – the schools, the golf course, the childcare center, the concert series, the fireworks, whatever it is.

“Malvern Bank finds that really important. You need a strong community to have a strong bank and vice versa.”