Webster Bank, which aspires to be the dominant regional bank in New England, opened its major flagship office in the former Boston Stock Exchange building last week, company officials have confirmed.
The new office, located on 10 Franklin St., will complement the bank’s network of 24 branches in the Bay State and give it a major presence in the heart of Boston’s financial district.
“The Boston flagship is in keeping with our ambition to be New England’s bank, and achieving that goal requires a presence in Boston, New England’s economic engine,” the company said in a statement.
The Waterbury-based banking company, which has $18 billion in assets, will have the formal ribbon cutting for the new office Dec. 9.
The Hartford Business Journal first reported Webster’s plans to open a Boston office last year, a move it has considered for more than two years. Waterbury will remain the corporate headquarters for the bank and the Boston office will anchor its presence in Massachusetts.
Ed Steadham, a spokesman for Webster, said the new office will house 16 bankers and offer the totality of products and services the bank provides, including retail banking, commercial real estate bankers, business and professional bankers, relationship managers, government bankers and asset-based lending.
As of June 30, Webster held $1.4 billion in deposits in the Bay State, giving it a 0.73 percent share of the state market.
By contrast, Webster holds about 12.5 percent of the deposit market in Connecticut with $11.4 billion in deposits and 137 branches, second behind Bank of America.
The opening of Webster’s Boston office comes on the heels of a turbulent 16 months for the banking company, which included the receipt of $400 million in government aid from the federal Troubled Asset Relief Program.
Webster Financial posted a $26.1 million, or 39 cents a share, net loss available to common shareholders for the third quarter of 2009, due largely to an increase in provision for credit losses. The consolidated net loss for the bank was $19.2 million, compared to $16.5 million in the year ago period.
Despite the losses, Webster chairman and CEO James Smith said capital levels at the bank continue to improve and are well in excess of all regulatory requirements.
In November 2008, Webster received clearance to receive $400 million as part of the U.S. Treasury’s broad banking rescue effort to cushion its capital reserves against deteriorating loans and other assets. Since that time, however, Smith said the company is preparing a repayment plan for the Treasury Department.
In addition to the federal aid, Webster reached an agreement earlier this year to receive a $115 million investment from New York equity investor Warburg Pincus.
That deal was finalized in October, and as part of the agreement, Warburg gets 11.5 million shares of newly-issued common stock at $10 per share, plus junior nonvoting preferred stock and warrants.
Additionally, Warburg’s managing director David A. Coulter, who is a former Bank of America CEO, has joined Webster’s nine-member board of directors.
Greg Bordonaro is a Hartford Business Journal staff writer.
