First Liberty Bank Wins Statewide Best of Community Banking Awards

LIBERTY—The Independent Bankers Association of Texas (IBAT)—the largest state community banking association in the nation—recently honored First Liberty Bank in Liberty with two Best of Community Banking (BOCB) Awards. It received a Gold Eagle award for its “FLB Gives Back Through Education!” community service entry and a Silver Eagle award for its “Modern Banking with FLB” innovation entry. 

Big bank ability with small bank agility–that's First Liberty Bank. With its local banking evolving and expanding for the past 109 years, the bank’s local communities have played a huge impact on its success of expansion. 

FLB shows support through education by educating its youth in finance and operations of a financial institution. In recent years, the bank has developed a program called “Jr. Board.” The Jr. Board consists of top students that are recommended by local school counselors to partake in the program. These students attend monthly meetings, volunteer at events hosted by FLB, learn how the bank operates and at the end of the program, earn a scholarship for their attendance and commitment.

FLB also invests back into the community through education in financial literacy for the LMI/MM areas. It provides informative education tools on how to earn, save and invest, protect, budget and borrow. 

In 2018, FLB introduced its first ITM (Interactive Teller Machine), on the forefront in banking technology. Using this technology has allowed FLB to expand in different communities without building a brick-and-mortar location. The ITM’s provide functions such as deposit/withdrawals, account transfers, cash checks, loan payments, statement printing and anything can be done through its tellers through a video call.

2023 marks the 32^nd year that IBAT has celebrated the outstanding accomplishments of Texas community banks with the BOCB Awards. Community banks, such as First Liberty Bank, play a critical role in their local communities. The Best of Community Banking competition is designed to honor local banks for their commitment to helping their customers, neighbors, employees and community. BOCB Awards recognize community banks throughout the state for their innovation, creativity and success in fulfilling a specific community or internal need. Each submission received a gold, silver or bronze eagle award in one of six categories: architectural design, bank culture, community service, financial literacy, marketing and innovation. 

All BOCB gold, silver and bronze submissions can be viewed at www.ibat.org. For more information about First Liberty Bank’s submissions and the programs they highlight, please contact Business Development Officer Jessica Sims at (936) 336-6471.