🔒Bank of America loses market-share edge in CT

Bank of America is still Connecticut’s deposit market-share leader, but its closest competitors are gaining ground.

Meantime, Bridgeport regional lender People’s United Bank eked ahead of its main rival — Waterbury-based Webster Bank — to take over the No. 2 deposit market-share spot in the state, according to recently released data by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Bank of America, which is the second largest U.S. bank behind JPMorgan Chase, recorded $32.1 billion in Connecticut deposits at the end of June, controlling 22.94 percent of the deposit market in the state, FDIC data shows.

A year prior, it owned 23.6 percent of the Connecticut market.

In comparison, People’s United Bank had 15.2 percent of the deposit market, up from 12.9 percent a year earlier. People’s United added almost $3.8 billion in deposits over the last year, helped largely by its $544 million purchase of Farmington Bank.

And People’s is poised to increase its market share even more after recently closing its $759-million acquisition of United Bank.

That deal isn’t reflected in the latest FDIC market-share report.

The Farmington Bank deal helped People’s United surpass its chief rival, Webster Bank, in the deposit-share rankings, the first time they flip-flopped positions since 2016.

Webster Bank controlled 14.11 percent of Connecticut deposits ($19.7 billion) at the end of June, up 3 percent from a year earlier.

The state’s 10 largest banks, most of which have a national or regional presence, own about 79 percent of Connecticut deposits, FDIC data shows.

Bank of America has long dominated the Connecticut market, but its position has weakened a bit. At the end of June 2014, for example, the bank owned 25.72 percent of Connecticut deposits, FDIC data shows.

Another big gainer over the last year was Boston-based Berkshire Bank, which entered the Connecticut market in 2012 with its $30-million purchase of Connecticut Bank and Trust Co.

In May, Berkshire Bank bought Windham lender Savings Institute Bank & Trust Co. for $180 million, adding more than $1.6 billion in assets to its arsenal. Its Connecticut deposit base grew from $294 million to $1.4 billion over the last year.

Overall, deposits for Connecticut’s 59 banks totaled $139.8 billion at the end of June, a 3.2 percent increase from a year earlier.

The new deposit-share data comes amid what’s been a very competitive banking landscape as lenders compete in a state with a shrinking population and slow economic growth, which makes finding new commercial and individual depositors and borrowers more challenging.

Money-center banks’ woes

Another trend is that out-of-state, money-center banks continue to struggle with maintaining or growing their deposit base in Connecticut.

Besides Bank of America seeing its deposit market share decline slightly over the last year, California’s Wells Fargo Bank (No. 4 in overall Connecticut deposits), New York’s Citibank (No. 7), and New York-based HSBC Bank all shed Connecticut deposits and market share in the latest 12-month period, according to FDIC data.

Wells Fargo, which has been hit with various billion-dollar fines in recent years for mishandling auto and mortgage loans, among other issues, shed the most — $413.6 million in deposits, a 5-percent decline.

On top of that, Wells Fargo and Citibank have seen their Connecticut deposits slide in each of the last three years, FDIC data shows.

JPMorgan Chase Bank saw a small $54-million bump in its deposit base, but it is aggressively trying to grow its Connecticut market share. Earlier this year, Chase Bank opened its first branch in downtown Hartford and it’s planning other locations in Avon, South Windsor, Cheshire and Ridgefield.

Santander Bank, the U.S. unit of Spain’s Banco Santander, was actually a big-bank outlier, growing its deposit base 12 percent, adding $192.6 million in funds. That reversed three straight years of deposit losses by the bank.