By Clyde Noel

Los Altos resident and banking veteran Steven Shepherd has joined the Northern Trust team as vice president. He serves as a private banker and senior relationship manager in the Los Altos office.

“I work with clients who have financial needs beyond plain banking services,” Shepherd said. “The focus on confidentiality is high on personal relationships. Everyone is close to their clients and I find that unusual for a large financial company.”

Shepherd’s prior banking experience spans more than 30 years in Northern California.

“I try to find a person’s hot button and build a custom program around it,” Shepherd said. “Northern Trust knows stability is essential to earning confidence and clients depend on the strength and knowledge to secure a financial future.”

Shepherd, along with Vice President Jeffery Yoakum, know you need to have people come into the bank to see what is available.

“I suggested opening the events room to the public,” Shepherd said. “Once they walk inside the building, they can see there is a difference from large commercial banks. We meet our clients in the board room and treat them with respect and assure them of confidentiality.”

For everyday convenience, clients can choose from an array of checking and savings services. From a checking account with investment options to money market deposit accounts or certificate of deposits, there is help and guidance available.

A personal banker can custom a plan to address personal lines of credit, custom loans, letters of credit or stock-option financing for their clients.

Shepherd said that profit sharing, pension plans or the sale of company stock may provide considerable cash and stock distributions to people, and those funds require professional attention to meet retirement needs.

“Whether a client is still working or retired, they still have financial needs,” Shepherd said. “We study those needs, objectives and tolerance for risk and custom-craft a portfolio to preserve the asset base.

“We offer ATM cards, online banking services, and a recent survey reported Northern Trust at the top of online banking,” Shepherd said. “We provide unconditional commitment and know what it takes to serve our clients.”

Northern Trust is located at 270 Third St., Los Altos. For more information, call 917-0234.