Answering the call: Why Liberty is the bank New Jersey built

Keith Banks, Thomas Scrivo, Richard Spengler and Ryan Peene can’t remember the
exact order of the phone calls that eventually led them here, sitting inside a renovated
branch on Bloomfield Avenue in Verona, preparing to officially launch Liberty Bank of
New Jersey.

But they all remember the phone call that convinced them the idea wasn’t just good, but
necessary.

It came from one of Spengler’s old commercial clients, a business owner he’d known for
two decades. The man had discovered a six‑figure fraud — more than $100,000 gone
— and did what anyone would do: he called his bank.

Except he couldn’t reach anyone.

“He said, ‘I’ve got a defalcation fraud for over $100,000, and I can’t get a live body to tell
me what to do,’” Spengler recalled.

Even worse: “He had been on hold for 75 minutes,” Spengler said.

The business owner’s only hope was to call a banker he knew would pick up: Spengler.

That call became a symbol for everything the four founders believe has gone wrong in
modern banking: Customers stuck in call‑center loops, branch managers who turn over
twice a year and decisions made in offices hundreds of miles away by people who don’t
know New Jersey or the businesses that keep it running.

Simply put: The personal service that banks have been built on for centuries was
disappearing.

Within months, the four set a plan in motion, with Spengler serving as CEO and chief
lending officer; Peene as chief operating officer; Banks as board chair; and Scrivo as
vice chair.

Within a year, their idea had a name: Liberty Bank of New Jersey. Soon after, members
of the state’s business community did something that stunned the experts. They
invested.

More than 350 of them.

Liberty Bank will hold its grand opening April 14. But it has quietly been open since the
end of January, doing exactly what its founders intended: giving New Jersey businesses
a bank that answers the phone, makes decisions locally and knows the difference
between Wood‑Ridge and Woodbridge — and why all that matters to the business
community.

***

Two decades ago, New Jersey had 135 banks. Today, there are approximately 50 –
and this is after two more mergers were announced in the last 90 days alone. As
institutions have consolidated, the big have gotten bigger and midsized business
customers have been pushed down the priority ladder.

New Jersey has almost a million registered businesses, but only a few are getting all the
attention, Spengler said.

“There’s a void,” he said. “If you’re not one of the top customers those big ten or twelve
banks are targeting, you’re made to feel insignificant.”

The consolidation wave is only accelerating.

Banks, who had a long career at Bank of America, sees this as an opportunity.

“Bigger is not better,” he said. “Bigger is just bigger. And when bigger keeps eating
smaller, that creates the void we’re stepping into.”

Liberty’s early traction proves the point. Before the bank even opened, it had deposits
flowing in from the Highlands, the Shore and up to Bergen County. The need isn’t local
— it’s statewide.

It’s Jersey.

Ask the founders what differentiates Liberty Bank, and they won’t start with interest
rates or products. They’ll start with something simpler: They live here.

“This is a grassroots Jersey name,” Peene said. “We’re proud to bank here.”

***

The first people to believe in the bank weren’t massive holding houses — they were
peers. The founders began with just 12 board members, then expanded to 53 early
investors who put up capital before there was even regulatory approval.

But when it came time for the formal capital raise, something rare happened.

They didn’t just raise the required $40 million, or even hit their $50 million cap. They
surpassed it

They had to give money back.

“We were telling people on the cutoff date, ‘Stop: Don’t send the wire,’” Spengler said.
“We were maxed. We’re the biggest community‑bank capital raise in New Jersey
history.”

Of course, the number that matters most is 350. These are not institutional investors or
private equity funds, but business owners, community leaders, retired executives, local
influencers, many of whom the founders have known for decades — almost all of whom
are known around the state.

Every one of them bought in without seeing a single financial statement.

“There are no financials in a de novo offering,” Spengler said. “You’re selling the
business plan — and the people. They believed in the model, and they believed in us.”

The founders could have taken the easy route. Their attorneys advised finding “the 40
wealthiest people in New Jersey” and calling it a day.

But that wasn’t the mission.

“Forty shareholders is easy,” Spengler said. “But 350 advocates across the state?
That’s better.”

***

From Day One, Liberty Bank is built to do two things simultaneously: Run like a 2026
institution but feel like a 1986 one.

The lending model goes like this:

• They will focus solely on commercial and business lending in the first two years.
  No legacy loans with 2–3% interest rates. No long‑dated consumer loans tying
  up capital. No outdated portfolios inherited from decades of legacy decisions.
• They are targeting an underserved sweet spot: New Jersey businesses $75M and under, with loans capped at $5 million.
• They have no bottom limit for loans. One of the first transactions they considered was a $30,000 line of credit.

“It’s about relationships,” Spengler said. “That small loan gets us the deposits, the
referrals, the long‑term partnership — and it’s a great CRA loan.”

The service model goes like this:

• Customers get the executives’ cell numbers, not a 1‑800 line;
• Wires are processed by people 10 feet from each other, not 1,200 miles;
• Website inquiries go straight to Peene and Spengler — and they get quick
  callback, even on weekends;
• Branch managers give out their cell numbers, too;
• Phone calls ring on actual desks, not into voicemail forests.

The four say this is where Liberty stands out.

Spengler, who ran lending at Investors and played a key role in its rise, still uses the
mantra from the ad he ran for a decade: “The most important number you can get from
your banker is his private cell.”

***

The founders of Liberty Bank of New Jersey didn’t want to build a bank. They wanted to
fix an industry.

A man with a six‑figure fraud shouldn’t have to sit on hold for 75 minutes. A business
owner shouldn’t have to explain which town they’re calling from to someone in another
time zone. A New Jersey customer shouldn’t need a translation layer between
themselves and the people holding their money.

So, four friends — each with decades of experience, each with statewide networks,
each with reputations built on service — sat down at the Highlawn Pavilion and decided
to build something better.

• They walked, not sprinted;
• They listened to every “what if”;
• They raised the money;
• They hired their people;
• They opened their doors.

And, on April 14, they’ll cut the ribbon.

But the real opening happened already — the moment New Jersey decided it wanted its
own bank back, they said.

Liberty Bank of New Jersey didn’t create that need, the founders said: It simply
answered the call.