As the fifth largest bank headquartered in Pennsylvania, Northwest Savings Bank has $6.7 billion in assets, nearly 170 locations across five states and more than a century of service to its customers.

Four Butler County offices and a growing local work force have helped forge Northwest's reputation as a leader in commercial lending, business banking, and investment management and trust services.

"With so many best in class products and services, we are much more than a savings bank today," said Chris Martin, Southwest Region president. "We mean business."

Like a lot of folks in Butler County, you may already know that Northwest Savings Bank is a leader for home equity loans and residential mortgages. What you may not know is Northwest is forging a reputation as a business lender, too.

Just ask Tom Ziacik, senior vice president of commercial lending, about Northwest's growing portfolio of satisfied commercial loan customers.

"We offer commercial real estate loans, equipment loans, working capital lines of credit, letters of credit and business Visa cards," he said. "We can handle almost any financing request, large or small, with competitive rates, fast, efficient service and always local decisions made by experienced lenders."

A major point of difference at Northwest is loans are approved right here by a regional loan committee, local people who know the area well.

"We offer competitive rates and fast, efficient service," Ziacik said. "Like our consumer loans, our commercial loan decisions are made by experienced, local people — not out of state processing centers that base decisions on credit scores alone."

Northwest offers business banking products and services from checking and check cards, to Internet banking with online bill payment, to sophisticated cash management products, including positive pay and account reconciliation.

"We also feature a great new product called Express Deposit," according to Cheryl Bevan, Butler County's business services adviser for the bank. "With it, you can scan and send your deposit as check images, securely and electronically to us, saving staff time in traveling to and from one of our branches. It's almost like having a Northwest Savings Bank office in your office."

Northwest also offers expert trust and investment services for individuals, such as IRA rollovers, investment management, investment advisory custody services and financial planning. For businesses, Northwest offers qualified retirement 401K plans, public pension plans and investment management.

"Our team of professionals — including our branch managers, commercial lenders, cash management specialist and investment adviser — is always here to give local business owners no-obligation recommendations to save time and money," Martin said.

Northwest Savings Bank has 27 locations in Greater Pittsburgh and in Butler, Cranberry Township, Sarver, and Valencia.

For information, call Northwest Direct toll-free at 877-672-5678, or go online to www.northwestsavingsbank.com.