WSFS Bank

Infobox_Company
company_name = Wilmington Savings Fund Society

company_
company_type = Public (NASDAQ: WSFS)
foundation = 1832
location = Wilmington, Delaware
key_people = Marvin "Skip" Schoenhals, Chairman
Mark Turner, CEO
area_served = Delaware, Pennsylvania
num_employees = 573
revenue = profit US$171.2 million FY '05 to '06)
industry = Financial Services
products = Banking
homepage = [http://www.wsfsbank.com wsfsbank.com]

Wilmington Savings Fund Society, FSB, currently branded as WSFS Bank, is a federal savings bank headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S., and is the retail banking subsidiary of WSFS Financial Corporation. The bank operates 30 retail branches in all three counties in Delaware, and Chester and Delaware counties in Pennsylvania. WSFS offers traditional retail banking services such as checking and savings accounts, CDs, consumer mortgages, lines of credit, and home equity loans, and also offers commercial banking services for small businesses, business banking and middle market customers, and for real estate development and investment. WSFS also offers investment products through its subsidiary WSFS Investment Group, and wealth management services through its WSFS Wealth Management subsidiary.

History

Wilmington Savings Fund Society was chartered as a Delaware thrift in 1832 by a group of Wilmington community leaders and businessmen. The bank was formed for the working citizens of Wilmington to encourage thrift, and safeguard and increase their savings in a community bank. The bank's first day of business was February 18, 1832, in a rented room "one door below" Town Hall on Market Street. The bank grew steadily through the 19th century, and moved locations twice more before constructing their own building at 838 N. Market Street in 1895. The building stood until 1929, when the current building was constructed and opened for business. Three years later the building would receive its landmark mural, "Apotheosis of the Family" by N. C. Wyeth. The mural, 60'x19', was commissioned by Frederick Stone to celebrate the bank's 100th anniversery, and still hangs in the banking hall today.

WSFS's growth continued in the 1950s and 60s, and was the first bank in the United States to issue debit cards in the late 1960s. By the 1980s, WSFS had expanded from northern New Castle County into Kent and Sussex counties, and went public in March 1990 on the NASDAQ market. By the early 1990s the bank was in poor financial shape, and was near bankruptcy. The Board of Directors hired Marvin "Skip" Schoenhals in 1992, and began a dramatic turnaround. Nearly all of the lower Delaware branches were sold, and lending practices and credit quality were administered more closely.

In 2007, WSFS Bank moved its corporate headquarters from 838 N. Market Street, Wilmington, Delaware, where it had resided since 1885, ^{[http://www.wsfsbank.com/History.asp]} to 500 Delaware Avenue. ^{[http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070322/BUSINESS/70322042/-1/NLETTER02]} The 838 Market Street location is listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places. ^{[http://www.nr.nps.gov/nrloc1.htm]} The new location is the first multi-tenant building to be constructed in Wilmington since c. 1988. ^{[http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/ci/bu/sk/li/?id=102960&bt=2&ht=2&sro=1]}

Memberships

WSFS Bank is a member of the FDIC, and is an Equal Housing Lender. WSFS Bank uses STAR, and PLUS for its ATM transactions.

External links

* [http://www.wsfsbank.com WSFS Bank Homepage]

References

1. [http://www.wsfsbank.com/History.asp History of Wilmington Savings Fund Society published by WSFS Bank.]