On a crisp Wednesday, Oct., 21, roughly 30 West Roxbury Business Professional Association (WRBPA) members gathered inside The Corrib Pub on Centre Street as they waited for Jim Hennigan to tee up the latest featured speaker, president of The Cooperative Bank (TCB), John Battaglia.

“The Cooperative Bank has been a big part of this community for many years. They sponsor many events throughout the year,” Hennigan said.

Recently TCB merged with Ion Bank, based in Naugatuck, Connecticut and Battaglia said he wanted to assure people that TCB would retain its community initiatives and values; the only visible change is that the signage will now say, “Subsidiary of Ion Bank.”

Ion Bank itself recently merged with another bank in New Jersey, and Battaglia noted it is hard to keep track of all the various bank mergers as they occur so rapidly.

“What happens in mergers is that there is the main bank and also a mutual holding company,” Battaglia said. He said he felt this was a waste of time as both entities need the same systems. He skipped that step as he said some banks do that so the president can be the “big cheese.”

Battaglia said he has been with TCB for 10 years and prior to that was with the Boston Five Cent Savings Bank, a bank from the 19th century, suited to working-class people. Boston Five later merged with Citizens Bank, and Battaglia said the merger was not a positive experience, but he said his main lesson from the Boston Five merger was on how to do a merger properly and maintain the smaller bank’s values and goals.

Throughout the talk, Battaglia spotlighted a bank teller from a branch, Kenny, who showed up for the meeting and generally agreed with his boss’ statements (as one might expect). He said TCB is a welcoming place, unlike most major banks where the tellers may not even say hi or smile, and wondered why people would want to do banking at such an unwelcoming environment.“We make sure people say hello, number one.”

Questioning the reality of the merger, a longstanding member asked if the merger was not simply an acquisition. He said that he used to work for Shawmut Bank but in 1995 when they merged with another bank, the Shawmut branding was gone. He said he appreciated the need for a merger in order to survive in the competitive banking world, but wanted to make sure TCB was not losing its identity.

“The community has been great. Everyone knows who we are. We do not want to lose that,” Battaglia said. “That’s going to be challenge, not to lose that. I want to deal with an organization that has the same values, treats their employees very well.”

He said he has done a lot of research and visited Ion Bank several times, which is two hours away, and they seem to care about the employees. “If employees care, then they take care of their customers.” At TCB, people come into his office and say his bank is the only one where tellers are smiling. TCB supports its employees’ growth, even if it is at another bank.

One WRBPA member asked if TCB still does a portfolio loan on residential mortgages versus selling to the secondary market. Portfolio loans makes it easier on the home buyer as there are fewer obstacles, according to Battaglia.

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“Good luck if you have five different LLC’s and you got to get all this documentation in and you have a great down payment and your credit is good. Do we really want to put our people through that? We still do portfolio loans. We still sell loans. Whatever the best price is that works for the customer. We try to service everything.”

Someone else asked about compliance in typical banks compared to a credit union or mutual bank.

“Mutual banks have the same as a stock bank. Credit unions haven’t had that tough of a compliance review. They’ve had a free pass, but now it’s getting stricter. Because they don’t have the oversight it becomes the Wild Wild West,” Battaglia said.

In other news, District 6 Boston City Councilor Ben Weber gave a brief talk and mentioned how he was the first councilor to visit the lighting division of Public Works recently. He was told by a West Roxbury resident at Public Works that they replaced all the lights on Centre Street, and technology exists to monitor and dim the lights. He said if businesses have issues with the new lighting system to let him know. He also gave a progress report on Billings Field, which is slated for a formal opening in the spring but the hockey rink may open sooner. The fences are slated to come down Oct. 30.

Hennigan reminded people about the upcoming Mary Mulvey Families in Need Program which takes place twice yearly, during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, where volunteers hand out turkeys and side dishes to people undergoing food insecurity.

WRBPA meetings are normally held the second Wednesday of each month. This month was different due to one of Hennigan’s daughters getting married.

To become a member or volunteer for the Mary Mulvey Jacobson Families in Need Program, email jim@jimhennigan.com.