In 2011, when Clint Cates arrived at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville from his hometown of Cabot, he had his mind set on studying sports management with the idea of one day being an athletic director or in a similar role within the athletics field.
That all changed as he approached senior year on the Hill, when not only did he take a radical turn from that career path once he discovered banking; he left school entirely in order to get a jump on his new chosen field.
“After three years of college, I just kind of decided I wanted to get into banking and started pursuing that,” he said. “I would probably have to say it was my mother who actually influenced that decision. She worked in the banking industry for a few years when she was younger, and she always told me that it was a great industry and she always really enjoyed it.
“I was looking to set a career path at that point, and [banking] seemed like a good one. Turns out it was.”
Now, at the tender age of 32, Cates has nearly 11 years with Signature Bank to his credit, during which time he has worked in retail banking and ascended to the role of treasury services specialist. For that position, he works with businesses of all sizes to help these customers make the most of banking tools and financial services concerning payables, receivables and reporting, among other back office functions.
“Really, what we’re doing is just trying to help our business customers become more efficient with the services that we offer,” he said. “We have a variety of different-sized business clients that bank with us, from the small mom-and-pop shops to some larger ones. Our services can scale to serve any size customer pretty easily.”
Cates said demand for such products and services has grown steadily in recent years. For everything negative that COVID-19 brought about, one of the positive elements was helping businesses take a harder look at treasury services and changing the way many business owners looked at how to apply them.
“All of the tools we have today were there before COVID, but coming out of that, I think it shifted a lot of business owners’ perspective on being able to be a little bit more self-sustaining,” he said.
“It was more important to be able to do things online compared to having to be tied to the bank. The pandemic was one of those things that really pushed people to see the importance of technology and how to really utilize it.”
Cates said beyond banking expertise, most clients are looking for a high degree of customer service, and that element is what distinguishes the leaders from the followers in the banking industry.
“Every single one of our customers is looking for good customer service,” he said. “Even though we have these technologies that let customers handle things themselves, it is very important that they have somebody to call on and who can help them through any kind of problem. Regardless of size, every single one of our customers expects that.”
When asked what other areas of banking operations he would like to work in, Cates said he has found a home in his department and has his long-term sights set on continuing to build his career there.
“What I really enjoy the most about it is getting to learn about all the companies and businesses in our community,” he said. “It really opened eyes to how many businesses we have here, and I find it really interesting to be able to get to know them and see how they do their business. It’s a great feeling to help them and make them more efficient and do so with a high level of customer service.”
One thing Cates is looking forward to as his career goes along is to get involved with community organizations, nonprofits and charities. He said getting involved in this manner is not only good for business but speaks to who he is as a member of the wider community.
“[Community involvement] is a very important thing,” he said. “I know that we as a bank have a lot of events that some of our coworkers will set up within the community. Here in the treasury department, a lot of times we’ve kind of been tasked with either grilling for events or doing something like that. Getting more involved is something that I’m very much looking forward to.”
When he is on his own time, Cates said he likes to do anything outdoors, from hunting and fishing to a more recent hobby, taking advantage of northwest Arkansas’ famed cycling amenities.
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