This year marks Bernard Dolington’s 17th year in the bank industry, and his 13th year with HSBC. If there’s one thing running a branch of 13 people has taught him, it’s that running a bank is really no different than running a retail organization.

“Our job is to deliver bank products and services to our clientele in the Rego Park community. I would hope that my clients view myself and my staff as experts in our field, the financial field,” he said.

He explained that the bank staff takes a holistic approach by sitting down with clients and finding out what their short and long-term financial goals are, which may include buying a car, having children or purchasing a home, and helping them achieve those goals with FDIC or non-FDIC products. The bankers are also licensed to sell insurance.

“My job is not done as a branch manager until I have 100 percent of the market share in Rego Park,” said Dolington. “Realistically, that’s not going to happen, but that has to be my mindset. That’s why my job is never done.”

With that being said, Dolington admitted that it’s not always about the bottom line. What it is about is building a positive relationship between the banker and the client, which is more intimate than most people know.

He said several staff members have been working at the Rego Park branch for over 20 years, and there have been instances in which clients died and their children or close relatives called up or came in to thank those individuals for being kind to their late loved ones.

“I’ve certainly got goals I have to achieve, but I also will tell you that at the end of the day if I think we’ve made a positive difference in someone’s life, and that could be by advice or helping them out during a difficult time period, then you know what? We’ve done our job,” said Dolington. “It may not necessarily transfer into big business for the day, but you know what? There’s something else to be said for it as well.”