Months after completing its $30 million acquisition of Hartford’s Connecticut Bank and Trust Co., Berkshire Hills Bancorp is finally making its presence known in the state.
The Massachusetts lender has officially flipped the switch on the conversion of CBT bank branches to its new moniker “Berkshire Bank — CBT Region.”
All eight CBT branches underwent the conversation in November, more than six months after the acquisition was finalized, said Sheryl McQuade, the bank’s senior vice president and regional commercial leader.
Typically when banks finalize an acquisition, conversions to new systems, signage, and marketing materials happens fairly quickly. When First Niagara Bank acquired NewAlliance Bank in 2010, for example, new signage was up within a matter of days.
McQuade said Berkshire decided to delay the process because the company was going through a major upgrade to its operating system across all of its branches and it didn’t want to put CBT customers through two separate conversions.
So the company waited until the new system could be brought to Connecticut. That process was completed last month. Berkshire clients weren’t able to transact business in Connecticut prior to the conversion, so the company didn’t want to change signage until that was complete, McQuade said.
“There was a quiet period,” McQuade said.
But now Berkshire firmly has its heels planted in the Connecticut market and will look to aggressively grow its footprint in the state, McQuade said.
On the marketing side, Berkshire has already made a splash, hiring UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma as a board member and pitch man. That should get the bank’s unknown brand some attention in the market, which will be the biggest challenge for Berkshire as it looks create a strong presence in Connecticut.
McQuade said the biggest difference between Berkshire and CBT will be the expanded products and capabilities the Massachusetts lender brings to the market.
With $5.5 billion in assets, Berkshire is a much larger financial institution than CBT, which had $280 in assets at the time of the acquisition.
CBT had commercial loan limits of up to about $3 million, whereas Berkshire can do deals up to $15 million, McQuade said.
Berkshire will also be offering a wider suite of products including insurance, cash management, merchant, foreign exchange and trade, and wealth management services.
McQuade said the goal will be to cross sell more products to existing customers and go after new customers.
Berkshire will start off with an eight branch network in Greater Hartford, but the plan is to add two to three branches per year, mostly through a de novo build-up. The company is not ruling out the possibility of more acquisitions in Connecticut, McQuade said.
Meanwhile, former CBT CEO Dave Lentini is still with the bank, serving in a regional leadership role. He is managing philanthropic activities and strategic planning.
In terms of customer growth so far, McQuade said it has been limited on the retail side since Berkshire only did the official conversion last month. But now the bank plans to ramp up its marketing and advertising to lure more customers.
On the commercial side, McQuade said the bank is interested in potentially getting involved in some of the major downtown Hartford development projects that are being discussed, but no deals are in place yet.
“There are number of things happening in downtown Hartford we are considering,” McQuade said.
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Nutmeg State FCU unveils branch on wheels
Rocky Hill’s Nutmeg State Federal Credit Union is launching a new mobile branch that aims to bring financial services directly to customers by making stops at work places and schools.
The full-service branch will provide ATM services and be staffed with Nutmeg State FCU’s personnel. On board the bus, people can open accounts, apply for loans and access just about any service they would in a physical branch.
Nutmeg’s new mobile branch will make its debut Dec. 6 at Illing Middle School in Manchester, and then move Dec. 8 to the Newington Price Chopper.
Besides visiting high-profile community venues, the mobile branch will also serve in disaster relief situations.
Nutmeg State FCU’s new mobile branch is available for visits to corporations or community organizations.
Greg Bordonaro writes the Financial Sense column every other week. Reach him at gbordonaro@HartfordBusiness.com.
