New York-based bank opens in Portland, cites growth potential in region
NBT Bank, an upstate New York-based commercial bank, has opened a regional headquarters in Portland as part of its northern New England growth strategy. It's the first national commercial bank to expand into Maine since 2005.
John Watt, NBT's president of Maine, told Mainebiz that the bank's office at 254 Commercial St. will focus on commercial and industrial lending, commercial real estate and wealth management, with additional consumer lending businesses to be offered in the future. NBT will not have a retail branch presence in Maine.
Watt, who previously served as a top executive for New York-based Alliance Bank, said NBT's Portland office has started with four commercial lending professionals, who are expected to be announced later this month. The office plans to employ a total of 10-12 employees by mid-2016.
With the Portland office's opening, that means NBT now has 15 offices in New England, which Watt said is part of the bank's strategy to expand in the region. He said the bank has targeted New England as an area for growth because economic indicators show that it has greater promise than that of cities in upstate New York.
"Upstate New York has most of our commercial lending activity and that’s gradually shifted into New England," Watt said. "We believe that shift will continue as we grow in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine."
When asked about any specific economic indicators that encouraged the bank to expand in New England, Watt pointed to an economic forecast prepared for The United States Conference of Mayors and The Council on Metro Economies, which showed growth potential for cities like Portland and Portsmouth, N.H. "Opportunities for growth are materially higher than many cities we do business with in New York," Watt said.
Watt said in addition to seeing growth potential in New England, NBT also recognized there was a vacuum in Maine's market for a mid-sized bank that focuses on commercial lending.
He said smaller banks don't have the capacity to provide the products and services that NBT can. Some larger banks, on the other hand, have either been downsizing in Maine or changing their focus to out-of-state, he added.
"We think that's an opportunity for us to exploit, taking a community bank function, a community bank heritage and a community bank focus on the market into that space," Watt said. "We think that growth opportunity is right here."
The last national commercial bank to expand into Maine was First Tennessee Bank, which opened a location in 2005 that has since closed, according to Robert Studley, deputy superintendent of the Maine Bureau of Financial Institutions. People's United Bank, on the other hand, made its move into Maine by acquiring Maine Bank & Trust and Merrill Bank, based in Portland and Bangor, respectively, in 2008.
NBT, which was founded in 1856 and is headquartered in Norwich, N.Y., has 155 locations across six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. The bank's parent company, NBT Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ: NBTB), had $7.9 billion in assets as of Sept. 30.
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