🔒With Portland foothold, NBT Bank looks to add southern Maine branches

NBT Bank, which opened its first retail branch in Portland earlier this year, now plans to expand its network.

A Scarborough branch is in the works, with the exact location still to be determined, and two more branches are in the early stages of development. A footprint of four Portland-area branches would put the market on par with NBT Bank operations in Burlington, Vt., and Manchester, N.H., bank leaders told Mainebiz in a recent meeting. The branch count could eventually be more than four. "A lot of commercial banks are moving out," creating an opportunity, said Joe Stagliano, president of NBT Bank.

Northern New England operations are led by Mike O'Reilly, a native of Portsmouth, N.H., who joined NBT three years ago from Bangor Savings Bank, where he led New Hampshire expansion.

Commercial lending background

NBT Bank's history in Maine dates back more than a decade, to the opening of a commercial lending office on Widgery Wharf in Portland. In the past decade, NBT has financed the construction of 100 Fore St., a WEX-owned building leased to the Roux Institute of Northeastern University; the Casco, an apartment building developed by Redfern; the Veterans Administration site on Commercial St.; the Armature, a mixed-use development from Reveler; and parts of the Downs, the mixed-use development in Scarborough. It is a financing partner in the Developers Collaborative project to add 278 units of worker housing for General Dynamics and the Navy at Bath Iron Works. It has plans for additional multifamily housing projects ahead. In January, NBT Bank opened its first retail branch, at 191 Marginal Way. In recent weeks, the Portland office has added specialists in online banking, mortgage origination, wealth management and private banking. The total workforce in Maine is 20 people. "We're entering the market full-speed ahead," Stagliano said. NBT has also raised its profile by supporting the Hearts of Pine Foundation, the charitable arm of the Portland soccer team, and the Center for Grieving Children, among others. A Jeep decked out with the NBT logo can often be spotted at Hearts of Pine games. NBT Bancorp (Nasdaq: NBTB), which is based in Norwich, N.Y., has $16.2 billion in assets and 173 branches. Its branch network stretches from Buffalo, N.Y., to Portland and, from the south to north, Wilkes-Barre, Pa., to Burlington, Vt. For now, NBT has just a 0.16% share of the Maine market, with $70.9 million in deposits, according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data as of June 30, 2025.