Caring for Our Community: Embracing Corporate Responsibility
Community is everything here.
Bank Local. Give local.
As a community bank, we're dedicated to meeting the diverse financial needs of our communities, empowering small businesses, engaging in community service, and promoting eco-friendly practices.
At First Bank, we strive to build a more sustainable and inclusive future for our clients, employees, shareholders, and the communities we call home. We strongly believe upholding responsible corporate practices is fundamental for a community bank.
We don't just talk about corporate responsibility – we live it. Our unique focus areas, including community support, ethical lending, financial stability, environmental initiatives, social responsibility, vendor relations, and employment practices, set us apart from other banks. We invite you to explore our Corporate Social Responsibility program to discover how First Bank is making a meaningful impact.
We are dedicated to furthering our outreach to assist charities and organizations within our communities via our FirstBank Charitable Foundation. FBCF focuses on building partnerships with these charitable organizations to have a positive impact on the essential needs within our neighborhoods.
Protecting our environment
Sustainability and conservation have always been part of First Bank’s strategic plan. From smart branch setups to using innovative technology, we're always looking for new ways to be more efficient with our time and energy while safeguarding our entrusted resources. We encourage sustainable practices at our offices wherever possible to cut down on water waste, paper, and plastics.
Environmental Impact
As we keep growing and adding new branches, we ensure our latest buildings adhere to our green standards, focusing on eco-friendly design to boost efficiency, reduce resources and lower our carbon footprint. When we renovate, we recycle everything—from carpeting to lighting—and use recycled materials for new textiles whenever possible. Shifting to natural gas for heating and changing old bulbs to LED with motion sensors where they fit are all part of our upgrades.
We're also big on recycling paper and hazardous stuff like batteries, electronics, and freon gas. Our e-recycling partner ensures secure data wipeout for sensitive info and gadgets, plus metal recycling. All our paper and packaging get securely recycled, too.
Supporting Customer Sustainability Goals
We're constantly investing in technology to reduce paper use and carbon emissions. Here's how we help our customers reduce waste:
- Enjoy free online banking for personal and business needs so you can bank securely without heading to a branch.
- Use bill pay, wires, auto payments, and remote deposit to skip writing and mailing checks. Go paperless with e-statements, e-bills, and annual reports.
- We partner with supply chain partners who share our commitment to sustainability and ethics.
Building and caring for our teams
Our team is our top priority and most valuable asset. We're dedicated to supporting each individual through great benefits, wellness programs and growth opportunities. Our goal? To build, keep and nurture an exceptional and diverse team. Everyone brings unique talents and perspectives crucial for our company's success.
We're committed to hiring from underrepresented groups, including racially diverse individuals, LGBTQ+ community members, veterans, and those with disabilities. As of 2024, women comprise 59 percent of our workforce, and 54 percent of management, with minorities constituting 16 percent of our management team. We value and respect every team member, and our commitment to diversity and inclusion is a cornerstone of our corporate responsibility.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging (DEIB) Committee
A diverse team with different beliefs and opinions is key to the bank's growth and meeting a variety of customer needs. We want our employees to feel represented at all levels, creating an inclusive environment. Our DEIB Committee shares community service stories, organizes monthly events, and maintains a blog celebrating our country’s rich history. They highlight occasions like Black History Month, Pride Month, Women’s History Month, and Hispanic Heritage Month. The Committee serves as a direct connection to bank leaders and addresses any concerns about retention.
Teaching our core beliefs
Our team dedicates itself to upholding ethics and human rights. At the beginning of each year, we provide comprehensive training on diversity, inclusion, info security, compliance, harassment policies and whistleblower procedures. Our Internship Program aims to support local youth, with many interns transitioning to full-time roles.
Team building
Building strong teams and connections are important to our culture, as nurturing relationships creates a happier work atmosphere. We achieve this through various social events for team members, such as:
- Family day
- Department outings
- Celebrating career milestones
- Group training
- Holiday party
- Bring your child to work day
- Peer recognition program for acknowledging outstanding efforts of colleagues
- Volunteer opportunities
Work-life balance
In addition to excellent health benefits and retirement plans, we provide many work-life balance options:
- Programs to help you juggle work and life, like stress relief, legal and financial advice, and fitness tips
- Part-time and work-from-home options
- Mental health training and a free Calm premium account
- Surveys to keep tabs on how you're feeling
- Get that degree with tuition reimbursement
- Support if you need time off for health reasons
- Fair wages with help from a comp consultant
- Parental leave and lactation facilities
- Flexibility for your schedule and paid time off to vote
Supporting Our Customers
Customer focus
We understand having access to banking is essential for social and economic progress. We want to break down barriers to make banking easier for everyone, especially those who need it most. With our range of products and services and banking community groups, we're here to help our customers safeguard their finances. At First Bank, we're all about going above and beyond for our customers.
Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity is a top priority. We have multiple layers of security to identify and stop any fraud attempts. We raise awareness and educate our customers on spotting and dodging scams. Our goal is to help our stakeholders safeguard their businesses, identities, and finances, so our website has a fraud education section with helpful articles and tips.
Offline, we have high-security standards in place, and the First Bank Internet Banking system is locked down with many security tiers online. We take every possible step to ensure our customers' account info stays safe from fraud. When you're on First Bank Internet Banking, rest assured it's all protected by Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption to keep your money and privacy secure.
Customer feedback
We know how important it is to communicate with customers and keep them informed about our growth. That's why we do surveys regularly - right after account opening, on the relationship anniversary for our existing customers, and annually for our incredible employees. This feedback is like gold, helping us understand how everyone feels about our offers so we can improve. We're big on giving back to our communities, and with all this feedback, we're always working to go above and beyond for them.
Community engagement
First Bank is committed to our local areas' social and economic development. At the core, our efforts focus on making generational and transformative impacts to enhance the quality of life for residents across our New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Florida communities. Over the period of 2021 - 2023, First Bank employees volunteered over 5,000 hours to non-profits, in the form of single-event volunteers and serving as organization board members. During that same time period, over $600 million in community development loans were made, and new investments of $13 million were made via mortgage-backed securities, municipal bonds, Small Business Investment Corporations, Minority Deposit Institutions (MDIs) and Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), including local community organization sponsorships and grants.
We work closely with our community partners to continually assess their needs, offering grants and funding to help them with their economic and social initiatives. First Bank’s goal is to meet the credit needs of the communities the Bank serves, including low and moderate-income neighborhoods.
Banking for all
Our Community Checking Account program received certification from the Nation Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund (CFE Fund) for meeting the BankOn National Account Standards 2021-2022. BankOn aims to make safe and affordable financial products accessible to all.
“Community Checking offers New Jersey with Pennsylvania, and Florida residents looking to improve their finances a safe, affordable, and beneficial mainstream banking product. First Bank’s offering of this terrific account brings them into the forefront of national banking access efforts, and we thank them.”
-Jonathan Mintz, President and CEO of the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund.
