Chevy Chase Bank is a local bank and considered as the largest company in the Washington Metropolitan Area. Office of Thrift Supervision regulates this bank which is a federally chartered thrift. Saul Real Estate Investment Trust and B. Francis Saul II control and serve as the chairman of the bank. Capital One declared to acquire Chevy Chase bank in December 4, 2008. There are more than 250 branches of Chevy Chase bank. These branches are present in Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia and Delaware. The headquarters of Chevy Chase bank are present in Bethesda, Maryland at the corner of East West highway and Wisconsin Avenue and officially in McLean, Virginia. Chevy Chase bank claims to have the largest network of automatic telling machines in the Washington area.
Supraregional companies and the retail banking divisions of larger are the main competitors of Chevy Chase bank. The supraregional companies include Bank of America, Sun Trust Banks, BB&T and Wachovia. So, Chevy Chase bank stresses local nature and community involvement in its advertising. The advertising mascot of the bank is a caricature portrayal of Benjamin Franklin. Benjamin Franklin repeats tagline, The Leading Local Bank, in television commercials. It is interesting to note that although the bank is operating is such a highly competitive industry; still it is able to maintain its position. The credit goes to the reliable financial products and services which the bank has been offering to its customers. In fact this is one of the reasons because of which the bank is able to continue its operations.
The history of Chevy Chase bank started when B. Francis Saul founded the B.F. Saul Company in 1892. B.F. Saul Company is a mortgage and real estate firm. A loan and saving chartered was passed to some businessmen of Baltimore area on 11 of October, 1955 but it was never applied. The Chevy Chase Savings And Loan Association was organized in 1969. The name of the association was taken from Chevy Chase, Maryland. On December 1, 1969 B. Francis Saul II opened the S&L and also offered services of home saving and loans. In 1985, Chevy Chase bank turned out to be a FDIC insured savings bank. In the same year, Chevy Chase bank renamed as Chevy Chase Savings Bank, F.S.B. In 1988, Chevy Chase bank also got hold of the Standard Savings and Loan Association of Grundy, Virginia. In 1994, Chevy Chase bank got the current name. The bank moved its registration from Chevy Chase to McLean on 16 January 1996 and its headquarters in 2001 in Bethesda. This shows that over the period of time, the bank has been changed in terms of its business model and structure.
The survival of the bank is also attributed to the variety of the financial products offered by the bank however; the core business of the bank is residential mortgages and consumer banking. For conducting the mortgages business, the bank has its subsidiary known as B.F. Saul Mortgage Company. Chevy Chase bank has also faced various issues over the period of time however, through it appreciable leadership and loyalty of its customers, it has been able to combat the issues.
In conclusion, the competition in the banking industry is going tougher. The Chevy Chase has been able to satisfy its customers since its foundation. However, to continue its reputation and profitability, like other banks, Chevy Chase has to come up with innovative and appealing offers.
