Part 3 — A New Roof Rises
Mrs. Dahl lifted a single page from her lap. “The auditors found that in March, Mr. Wexler approved a $400,000 loan to his fiancee father,” she said. “No collateral. No committee review. The bank bylaws and federal rules on insider loans forbid exactly that.”
Chad Wexler straightened his tie. “It was within my authority,” he said. “Authority has a ceiling, young man,” Mrs. Dahl answered calmly, “and you hit it with your head.”
The board chairman rose from the front row. The directors voted on the spot to suspend Chad immediately and refer the loan to the regulators. Brittany stood alone beside the cake table with a napkin in her hand.
Mrs. Dahl turned to me and smiled. “Martha, dear, would the board be willing to reconsider a certain roof?” The chairman did not hesitate. He pulled a pen from his jacket and approved my $40,000 loan on the spot, at three percent, with a handshake.
A bank is built on handshakes, and one honest handshake outlasts a hundred slick suits.
The FDIC and the Iowa Division of Banking reviewed the March loan. It was unwound within a month, and the borrower repaid in full. Chad was removed as president and was barred by the regulators from serving as a bank officer for three years. Brittany was reassigned to the records department.
I cut the cake with George old letter opener, since the knife was too small. I gave the first slice to Mrs. Dahl, and the second to the teller who used to bring George coffee.
The roof went up in October. The roofing company donated the shingles, and fourteen volunteers from the bank climbed up with hammers on a cool Saturday. Mrs. Dahl watched from a lawn chair in the driveway with a thermos of coffee.
The board appointed a young interim president named Priya Shah. She sits down personally with every senior who applies for a loan, and she is the first to say she learned that from a photograph.
In the lobby, near the front door, the bank hung George photo with a small brass plate: George Hollings, First Loan Officer, 1958. He lent on a handshake.