Rhode Island-based Citizens Financial Group has reached a deal to brand about 60 ATMs at Cumberland Farms convenience stores in Connecticut, as the banking company seeks to grow its market share in the state.
The parent company of Citizens Bank will also brand 540 Cumberland Farms ATMs in other New England and Mid-Atlantic states, including Delaware (10), Maine (37), Massachusetts (194), New Hampshire (49), and New York (75).
The ATMs will be surcharge-free for all Citizens Bank and Charter One customers.
Company officials said the deal is part of a strategy to make the bank more consumer friendly, which they hope will translate into added market share in the state. As of June 30, 2009, Citizens held about 3.5 percent of Connecticut deposits totaling $3.2 billion.
“We want to provide customers the ability to bank with us wherever and whenever they want,” said Christopher Riley, a spokesman for the bank. “The bottom line is convenience.”
The new, withdrawal-only ATMs will display the Citizens Bank logo on the ATMs, welcome screen and receipts. Installation of the ATMs began in June and is expected to be completed by September. The ATMs are owned and operated by EDC, one of the largest nationwide service providers.
The additional ATMs at Cumberland Farms convenience stores will bring the total number of ATMs available to Citizens Bank and Charter One customers to nearly 3,800.
In March, Citizens announced a similar partnership with EDC and Sunoco to brand ATMs at nearly 500 Sunoco APlus Convenience Stores in 13 states throughout the East Coast.
Like all Connecticut banks, Citizens is looking to build its market share in the state. In addition to the newly branded ATMs, Citizens has opened three new branches in Connecticut over the last year, all located on the Gold Coast in Fairfield County.
The company has 51 branches in the state. Riley said the bank is continuing to look for more opportunities to expand its footprint here “where it makes sense to do so.”
The company’s main rivals for market share in the state include Bank of America, which controlled 20.5 percent of Connecticut deposits as of June 30, 2009, followed Webster Bank, People’s United Bank, Wachovia, and NewAlliance Bank.
Riley said it made sense to partner with Cumberland Farms because it is one of the nation’s largest family-owned convenience store chains that operates in 11 states. “It’s a known entity and it has a great network,” Riley said.
It’s also a natural progression of Citizen’s business strategy to partner with retail outlets. Citizens is the second-largest in-store banker in the nation, with 475 full-service locations inside grocery stores and other retail locations.
It’s a strategy many banks are replicating in order to get their brand in front of more customers. People’s United Bank, for example, is well-known for its storefronts in Stop & Shop supermarkets.
Rockville posts gains
Rockville Financial said its earnings jumped 34 percent in the second quarter, spurred by an increase from revenue generated on interest-bearing assets.
Net income for the parent company of Rockville Bank, which has 21 branches in Hartford, New London and Tolland counties, totaled $3.5 million for the quarter ended June 30, compared to $2.6 million for the same period last year.
The profit jump primarily resulted from a $1.9 million increase in net interest income, which was aided by a reduction in deposit expenses. The bank also reduced its non-interest expenses in the quarter by $323,000, thanks to a lower Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. assessment. All Connecticut banks saw their FDIC assessments spike in 2009, as the federal agency, which insures consumer deposits by up to $250,000, went broke amid a rash of bank failures.
In terms of its loan portfolio, Rockville Financial had $13.1 million set aside at the end of the quarter for loans that may go bad in the future. That was a slight increase from the $12.5 million the bank set aside at the end of December.
Since December, Rockville Financial also saw its asset base grow by $30.9 million, or 2 percent, to $1.6 billion and it added $21.3 million in deposits for a total of $1.15 billion.
Greg Bordonaro writes the Financial Sense column every other week. Reach him at gbordonaro@HartfordBusiness.com.
