The following story was produced by CI Storytelling, a production of Community Impact.
In an ever-evolving financial landscape, NDBT is positioning itself as a reliable partner for medical professionals in Dallas-Fort Worth, demonstrating that with the right financial support, they can focus on patient care.
For NDBT, understanding the financial needs of the medical community has been a strategic shift over the last decade, prompted by the growth of the health care industry in North Texas. As health care practitioners increasingly move to areas like Plano and Frisco, NDBT has pivoted to support these professionals with tailored banking solutions.
“The medical focus has not been by accident. It’s been by design,” said Ralph Thompson, market president for NDBT’s Collin County region. “We wanted to know what the needs were of that community. Doctors know medicine—they don’t necessarily know banking.”
One turning point in the bank’s relationship with the medical community came about 10 years ago when a nearby hospital developed a partnership buy-in program for doctors. NDBT saw the opportunity to support these doctors financially and initiated a new partnership.
“We threw our hat in the ring and said, ‘We want to participate in a big way on this,’” Thompson said. “We already had a good number of these doctors who banked with us because of location, and we wanted to develop deeper relationships. Because we are a community bank, we want the full relationship. We’ve developed a life cycle for a doctor in terms of their financial needs and estate planning. We call it a journey.”
As new doctors emerge from medical school, they often find themselves with basic banking relationships that lack the depth required to navigate their unique financial journeys. NDBT recognizes this gap and takes a proactive approach to assist these medical professionals. Through each phase of a doctor’s career—from initial banking relationships to retirement planning—the bank is committed to being a trusted partner in their financial success.
“A lot of these doctors will come out of medical school with a Bank of America account or some other account where there’s very limited relationship with a true banker,” Thompson said. “We’ll sit down with them and walk through their plans and aspirations.”
The bank’s support begins with understanding the financial landscape faced by new doctors, which often includes managing deposits, purchasing their first home and buying into or starting a practice. Many new practitioners have aspirations of opening their own facilities, which necessitates additional financial considerations.
As these doctors progress in their careers, the bank’s role evolves into investment planning.
“It’s kind of like the bell curve in a way,” Thompson said. “You start out small in terms of what the client needs, and then you build upon that.”
This growth leads to more significant investments and, ultimately, the inclusion of hospital buy-ins that yield dividends.
“As doctors age the emphasis shifts to wealth preservation,” Thompson said. “That’s the down crest as the doctors get older, allowing them to see that they have enough money to retire on. That’s where we come in with trust and wealth management products as well as managing their retirement.”
As demonstrated by its focus on the life cycle of a client, NDBT is not just focused on transactions; it aims to build long-term relationships with all of its clients.
“There’s a lot of community banks, but there’s also a lot of very large mega-banks,” Thompson said. “It’s almost a law of nature that as these banks get so big, it’s hard to deliver personal service. We try to focus on that with the people we hire. We educate them on how to communicate with the customers, how to listen and be responsive, and how to deliver full-service relationships.”
This personalized approach is evident not only in the way the bank tailors financial products and services for each client, but also due to the fact that NDBT has been operating since 1961. It is now the oldest bank in Dallas—a true Texas banking original—with five branch locations and services ranging from trust and wealth management products to mortgages of any kind.
“Every other bank has either merged or failed since then that preceded us,” Thompson said. “We stick to our roots, which are the core values of integrity, service and responsiveness.”
As North Dallas Bank and Trust continues to grow, its commitment to the community remains a top priority.
“We really do have the customer’s interests at heart,” Thompson said. “It’s more than just a transaction for us.”
The above story was produced by Community Impact’s Storytelling team with information solely provided by the local business as part of their “sponsored content” purchase through our advertising team.
