🔒With new W. Hartford branch, PeoplesBank aims to boost CT deposit market share, business loan portfolio

Surrounded by posh restaurants, artisan shops and the foot traffic they attract to West Hartford Center, the new LaSalle Road location for Tom Senecal’s company is perfect, he said.

Soon, he hopes, remote workers and friends will gather there to grab a cup of coffee, work and hang out.

Senecal doesn’t own a cafe; he’s president and CEO of Massachusetts-based PeoplesBank.

PeoplesBank — not to be confused with Bridgeport-based People’s United Bank, which is in the process of being acquired by New York’s M&T Bank — is expanding its retail business in Connecticut with a new banking center branch in West Hartford that will include bells and whistles like interactive ATMs (or ITMs) that connect to a live teller, expanded banking hours and a lobby that doubles as a community gathering space.

When the West Hartford branch opens at the end of this month, it will serve as PeoplesBank’s Connecticut headquarters and a benchmark in the $3.6 billion financial institution’s expansion of its retail business in the Constitution State.

As is the case with other mid-sized lenders, Senecal said he sees recent local bank M&A activity as an opportunity to grab up customers who want a bank that’s small enough to provide personalized service, but with enough capital to handle anything they need.

“We’re pretty nimble, but we’re of enough size where we can handle most all transactions, and we have the cash management products to do it,” Senecal said. “I see us not only being able to compete, but to excel, because of the technology we have.”

Deposit growth

PeoplesBank first entered the Connecticut retail banking market in 2018, when it acquired the branches and $275 million in assets from The First National Bank of Suffield. But even before that $60 million deal, the bank already had a strong commercial footprint in the state — about 60% of its commercial loan portfolio is with Connecticut-based companies, Senecal said.

While the Suffield acquisition brought PeoplesBank into Connecticut’s retail banking market, Senecal said he sees organic growth — like opening the West Hartford branch — as the motor that will really drive expansion here.

“If you take [the Suffield acquisition] out of the equation, all of our growth has been organic,” Senecal said. “It has all come from word of mouth, opening a branch, and growing our business model from the ground up from that location.”

PeoplesBank currently has $300 million in Connecticut deposits, which is 29% higher than when it entered the retail banking market here in 2018, the bank said.

By comparison, Bank of America, the deposit market share leader in Connecticut has $25.1 billion in local deposits. As of Oct. 2020, PeoplesBank ranked No. 42 in Connecticut deposit market share, with $278 million in deposits, according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data.

The West Hartford branch will be the bank’s fourth branch in the state — other locations are in Suffield, West Suffield and Granby. Once the new branch is up and running, PeoplesBank will have 20 full-time employees based in Connecticut.

Over the next four years the bank is planning to further grow in the state, focusing on communities within the Greater Hartford area between Hartford and the Massachusetts border, Senecal said.

Market disruption

Part of the desire to grow PeoplesBank’s presence in Connecticut stems from recent disruptions in the market, including significant M&A activity that has other mid-sized banks looking at growth opportunities in the state.

One recent deal was doubly fortuitous.

M&T Bank’s pending purchase of People’s United will not only knock out a highly-recognizable competitor in Connecticut but also eliminate branding confusion for PeoplesBank, which is not affiliated with People’s United, Senecal said. Further, the merger — which will create a $200 billion financial institution — comes less than three years after People’s United bought out another local competitor, Farmington Bank, and absorbed its customers.

“I think that disruption creates opportunities, and it creates opportunities for people to start looking for banking relationships that are going to be consistent, and are going to be around for a while,” Senecal said.

Mergers have reduced retail customers’ options to bank with smaller community and regional banks, said Aleda De Maria, PeoplesBank’s executive vice president of consumer banking and operations. That puts PeoplesBank in a good position to fill the void and absorb customers looking for a smaller bank.

De Maria said it’s likely that other bank mergers will squeeze out smaller financial institutions in the region over the next few years, and PeoplesBank will focus its expansion on areas where big banking is the only option.

“Connecticut is primed for merger and acquisition territory,” De Maria said. “We’re really looking at ‘where are the markets that are being served less by community or regional banks, and really need us?’ “

New branch offerings

With the layout and services PeoplesBank will offer at its new West Hartford branch, the bank wants to be seen as part of the community, and responsive to customers, Senecal said.

The building sits in a trendy part of town, between Max Burger and Restaurant Bricco. Once up and running, the lobby will contain counter-height tables as well as cafe tables and chairs, where customers and non-customers can gather over coffee from an upscale hot-beverages machine, De Maria said.

The ITMs — one inside the branch’s doors, the other at a drive-up window — will offer live access to a banker until 7 p.m. on weekdays and 2 p.m. on weekends, De Maria said.

“What’s really exciting about this location is it’s really going to be an extension of our corporate headquarters,” De Maria said. “It’s going to be a one-stop shop for all of our customers in the area.”