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Community Bank Expands Presence with Second Springfield Branch

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Community Bank hosted a ribbon cutting at its new Boston Road branch in January.
Banking and Financial Services

Doubling Down

 

Community Bank hosted a ribbon cutting at its new Boston Road branch in January.

Community Bank hosted a ribbon cutting at its new Boston Road branch in January.

 

For Community Bank, N.A., Springfield was originally a remote outpost. But now, the institution is increasing its footprint in the City of Homes.

“We really are excited about Springfield as a market,” said Matt Plasse, regional president for New England. “I think it looks pretty similar to a lot of the markets where we operate — like, in upstate New York, I think of Syracuse or Rochester or Binghamton, markets where we really do well. There’s no single industry that dominates any one of those markets. It’s pretty diverse, small to mid-sized, family-owned businesses.

“And that’s what we do,” he added. “We’re a relationship bank. We don’t get too specialized in any one area. And at the end of the day, in order to be a community bank — which is part of our name, but it’s at the heart of what we do — you’ve got to have people in the market. So that’s why we are expanding in Springfield, and investing in that community.”

When Community Bank, whose strongest roots are in New York and Pennsylvania, acquired Merchants Bank in 2017, it gained a large network of branches in Vermont … and one in Massachusetts, in downtown Springfield’s Tower Square, which had been NUVO Bank before hanging the Merchants banner for a short time.

Located far from any other Community location, it would have been a prime candidate to be shed altogether, but instead, not only did it become a strong-performing branch, but its success has led, almost a decade later, to a second Springfield branch, which opened on Boston Road in late January.

Matt Plasse

Matt Plasse

“At the end of the day, in order to be a community bank — which is part of our name, but it’s at the heart of what we do — you’ve got to have people in the market. So that’s why we are expanding in Springfield, and investing in that community.”

“It’s not a small investment. We’re excited about this area,” Plasse said. “Boston Road is on the upswing. There’s a lot of investment going on in that side of the city, and we’ve already got great people in Springfield. And now, we’re putting more people on the ground.”

Like the first Springfield branch, Plasse said, the Boston Road office offers the usual range of banking services, from checking and savings accounts to lending, both personal — mortgages, home equity loans, auto loans, and the like — and business loans, from real estate to traditional commercial and industrial borrowers.

“We do have to be somewhat generalists and meet every customer where they’re at, so we have to offer everything,” Plasse said.

The Tower Square location has proven to be a strong performing branch over the past eight years, he added, which paved the way for the expanded footprint.

“That team has proven itself, and we like the market in general; it looks very similar to other places where we thrive. So it just reached a point where we said, ‘OK, we want to invest in Springfield.’ It’s a great opportunity for us.”

 

What’s in a Branch?

Most community banks have found over the past two decades that online banking did not make physical branches obsolete.

“That’s really how we deliver our model: having people in the markets, in our communities, establishing relationships. Customers can’t do everything online, so they’re coming to us to help their families or their businesses,” Plasse explained.

Even for routine transactions, “there’s still certainly a bunch of folks that just love to come in; maybe it’s part of their day. They’re very loyal customers, and we establish relationships with them,” he added.

“But certainly over my career, I’ve seen a shift. It used to be a very transactional role — high volume, you have people lined up out the door, you’re just trying to help everybody get their transactions completed. Now that role — and this is why we train our folks differently now — is more consultative. You’re asking them questions about why they’re there, what they’re looking for, how we can help them, and we have a lot more services to offer that can be super helpful.”

“That’s really how we deliver our model: having people in the markets, in our communities, establishing relationships. Customers can’t do everything online, so they’re coming to us to help their families or their businesses.”

Community Bank, in fact, offers what Plasse characterized as a four-legged stool when it comes to financial products, including its banking services, a wealth management group, an insurance entity, and retirement and benefits administration products.

“We position ourselves as a diversified financial services company. We see that as our differentiator from other banks in terms of our business model. And those entities really run on their own as fully scaled businesses, and they contribute an outsized portion of our revenue,” he went on.

“So, compared to our peers, we’re number one by far in terms of our revenue mix, the revenue that comes from non-bank fee income. But the only way to cross-sell those is to interact with your customers and consult with them and deliver those other options to them every day. So that’s the synergy we’re trying to get, and to have branches on the ground is the way to do that.”

At the same time, the bank intends to get involved in — and give back to — the local nonprofit landscape.

“It’s in our name, and it’s what we do every day, but as an institution, we give about $4 million a year to the community by way of donations and sponsorships, that sort of thing. Last year, we supported about 2,200 different organizations.”

The bank does so with a regional model, Plasse added, noting that the existing Springfield branch contributed about $61,000 to 22 different organizations last year, while team members volunteered more than 200 hours in the community.

“I’m the regional president for New England, which, for us, includes Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. And we have separate committees within each region to identify what the community needs are. We don’t want to have a blanket approach. I’m part of that committee, and we decide where to put our dollars into the community along with members from each one of those states. So we have people representing Massachusetts on that committee and advocating for local nonprofits in the Springfield area, and then we have other folks from New Hampshire and Vermont as well.”

As part of the recent ribbon cutting event on Boston Road, Community Bank donated $5,000 to the Springfield Symphony Orchestra and also committed $25 per loan or deposit opened at that location to Rick’s Place, which supports grieving young people and their families.

“And it’s not only dollars — it’s volunteering, too,” Plasse added. “In New England alone, it was 2,700 hours last year, and bank-wide, it was 17,800 hours of community service from our teams. Everyone is really encouraged to live and breathe the bank. We put our orange on — we kind of stand out. We look like a bunch of hunters out there, but it’s pretty fun when everyone gets together.”

 

Focus on the Future

Plasse said Community Bank has its eye on further growth, both organically and, when opportunities arise, with new locations.

“The big headline the other day was about the Webster and Santander merger. So we we expect we’ll see some opportunities out of that; when there’s a merger, sometimes divestitures of locations can come up,” he explained.

In any case, “we’re not done in Springfield. I don’t know what the next expansion might look like, whether it’s a de novo branch like we did on Boston Road or something else. But ideally, you have a hub and the spokes of the branch network, with the hub being downtown and several spokes around it.”

While regional expansion in Western Mass. is certainly possible, he added, the focus now is building in and around Springfield.

“We are certainly opportunistic if we feel like it’s the right time to strike. Our CEO is not afraid to do that, and we’re actively looking at similar things in New Hampshire and other places,” Plasse explained. “But in in terms of market share in Western Mass., the branch up and running downtown obviously has done very well, and we will attempt to replicate that on Boston Road.

“We’re very excited about our customers in Springfield. They may not root for the same football team as our friends in upstate New York, but they they look and feel the same, and they appreciate our core values of integrity, excellence, teamwork, and humility,” he said, while putting emphasis on the last one.

“I’ve worked at other institutions where I didn’t necessarily feel like that was evident, but humility is huge; there are no egos at this bank. We had an entire executive team came to show up in Springfield, which hopefully tells the community how important it is. The CEO was there, the CFO was there, head of HR was there, and all the CEOs of the business lines were there — the four legs of the stool. They’re all zero-ego, totally approachable people, which has been really encouraging. And I think once people come in and interact with us in the branch, they feel that.”

Community Bank Appoints Matt Durkee Chief Banking Officer

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Daily News

Matt Durkee

DEWITT, N.Y. — Community Bank, a subsidiary of Community Financial System Inc. (CFSI), announced that Matt Durkee has been appointed chief banking officer, effective Jan. 2. Durkee succeeds Jeff Levy, who retired at the end of the year following a distinguished banking career.

As chief banking officer, Durkee will oversee Community Bank’s banking strategy and performance across commercial, small business, and retail banking. His responsibilities will include driving balanced growth, strengthening client relationships, advancing credit and risk discipline, supporting market expansion, and ensuring alignment between banking operations and the company’s broader strategic objectives. The role also plays a central part in talent development, operational excellence, and delivering consistent value to customers and communities.

Durkee joined Community Bank in 2022 and made an immediate impact, first leading the bank’s New England market and most recently serving as president of Commercial Banking. In that role, he guided commercial growth initiatives, deepened client engagement, and partnered closely with regional leadership teams to deliver strong results.

“Matt is a proven leader with deep banking expertise and a clear focus on customers, talent, and performance,” said Dimitar Karaivanov, CFSI president and CEO. “He understands our markets, our culture, and our corporate strategy, and he is well-positioned to lead our banking business while identifying opportunities to deliver customer value across our full portfolio of CFSI companies. I am looking forward to his broad and positive impact as our new chief banking officer.”

Community Bank Welcomes Courtney Robbins to Springfield Branch

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Daily News

Courtney Robbins

SPRINGFIELD — Community Bank welcomed Courtney Robbins as branch and Community Development manager of the bank’s newest Massachusetts location at 1387 Boston Road in Springfield.

Robbins will lead strategies to support branch growth and expand business opportunities, while also handling day-to-day operations and guiding staff hiring and training. She will play a key role in fostering strong, ongoing relationships with customers and community partners; delivering comprehensive personal, business, and government banking products and solutions to meet the community’s financial needs; and supporting the bank’s continued expansion throughout the Western Mass. region.

Before joining Community Bank, she was a leader at several other financial institutions, overseeing daily operations, managing staff and business development, and maintaining branch profitability.

Outside of the office, Robbins is active in the East of the River Five Town Chamber of Commerce, Randall’s Ludlow Boys and Girls Club, Rick’s Place, and Dress for Success. She earned her degree in accounting from Framingham State University.

Community Bank Names Matthew Plasse Regional President of New England Market

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Daily News

Matthew Plasse

BURLINGTON, Vt. — Community Bank recently welcomed Matthew Plasse as regional president of the bank’s New England market. Plasse will lead business development and community engagement activities while fostering strong alignment across the bank’s various lines of business in the region. He will report to President of Commercial Banking Matt Durkee, whom he succeeds in this leadership position.

Plasse has more than 20 years of experience in the banking industry, serving customers in New England. Prior to Community Bank, he held various leadership and middle-market banking roles at M&T Bank and its acquired institutions, including People’s United Bank N.A. Most recently, he served as senior vice president, group manager for M&T Bank’s Commercial Banking division in Vermont.

“We’re pleased to welcome Matt to the Community Bank leadership team,” Durkee said. “I’ve worked with Matt for many years and have confidence that his experience and commitment to the region will be an asset to our team and our customers, and will support our continued expansion in the market.”

Plasse serves on the board of directors for the Vermont Community Loan Fund and is a member of the organization’s business loan committee. He earned his bachelor’s degree in finance from Wake Forest University.

Community Bank Contributed More Than $3.9 Million in 2024 Charitable Giving

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Daily News

DEWITT, N.Y. — Community Bank announced that its charitable giving, in conjunction with its parent company and affiliated subsidiaries, totaled more than $3.9 million in 2024. More than 2,200 nonprofit organizations that provide essential services to the communities the company serves received support through sponsorships and donations. The bank’s parent company, Community Financial System Inc., includes the companies OneGroup Insurance, Benefit Plans Administrators, and Community Bank Wealth Management.

“We’re pleased to continue our tradition of supporting local communities and organizations through charitable giving,” said Pam Brunet, director of Community & Corporate Relations for Community Financial System Inc. “This investment reflects the shared sense of responsibility and passion our team members have for making a difference, and we look forward to continuing to provide lasting support to our communities throughout 2025.”

Community Financial System Inc. has remained committed to its legacy of championing the communities it serves by empowering employees to engage in community events and support the local causes they’re passionate about. Among last year’s charitable-giving efforts, more than $200,000 was given to United Way agencies across the company’s footprint through a combination of corporate contributions and employee payroll deductions.

Beyond financial support, Community Bank branches often host charitable drives and events as a way for employees, customers, and community members to participate in charitable-giving efforts. Employees across Community Financial System Inc. also volunteer their time to a variety of local nonprofits, including cultural, civic, economic-development, and social-service organizations and charities. In 2024, the organization’s team members committed more than 17,800 hours to volunteer initiatives to give back to their communities, and more than 405 team members served on not-for-profit boards and committees.

Local Banks, Credit Unions Emphasize Corporate Responsibility

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Banking and Financial Services Special Coverage

More Than Writing Checks

 

A community bank should be about, well, the community.

That’s the prevailing thought, anyway, among bank and credit-union leaders throughout the Western Mass. region when it comes to philanthropy, volunteerism, and other activities under the broad umbrella of corporate responsibility.

“It’s identifying the needs of the communities we serve. We’re very consistent with that mission,” said Matt Garrity, president and CEO of Florence Savings Bank, who was quick to name several areas of focus for the institution’s giving-back strategy, including affordable housing, food insecurity, financial literacy, education, substance abuse, health and human services, and community redevelopment. “These are issues that impact the lives of people in the communities we serve.”

To that end, Florence funded close to 400 requests in 2024, and it’s far from alone in meeting those needs.

“For mutual banks and community banks here in Western Massachusetts, giving back to the community really is a core value,” Garrity said. “And it’s local — the overwhelming majority of the giving we do is centered on supporting communities in Hampshire, Hampden, and Franklin counties.”

UMassFive College Federal Credit Union focuses on the word ‘wellness’ a lot, said Craig Boivin, vice president of Marketing.

“That can mean different things. Obviously, financial wellness is the biggest thing. We’re a credit union, so we’re making sure we educate people on financial matters, with webinars and workshops on budgeting, understanding credit, and paying down debt. But another bucket of wellness has to do with basic necessities.”

That’s why UMassFive works with local survival centers, helping them meet needs and spreading the word to others, like through an annual coat and winter clothing drive that brought critical supplies to Amherst Survival Center, the Gray House in Springfield, and Net of Compassion in Worcester.

In fact, UMassFive partners with a host of area nonprofits on various giving and volunteering initiatives, including Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture, the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts (through participation in Will Bike 4 Food), and health-focused organizations like the UMass Cancer Center (through the UMass Cancer Walk).

Matt Garrity

Matt Garrity says Florence Savings Bank prioritizes community needs including affordable housing, food insecurity, financial literacy, education, health and human services, and community redevelopment.

Dan Moriarty, president and CEO of Monson Savings Bank, says his institution is dedicated to enriching lives in the cities and towns where it does business, and surrounding communities as well, helping organizations that serve a host of constituencies, from senior citizens to veterans to people in need of health services and basic needs.

“Obviously, a bank can’t solve all the area’s problems, but when we do things along with other good corporate citizens, we feel we make a difference in people’s lives,” he noted, noting that the bank has adopted “when we all give back, we all move forward” as its philanthropic tagline.

“We are a community bank, and we’ve been doing that for over 150 years now. As we continue to grow and expand our market footprint, we expect to help with more needs in the community.”

Matt Bannister, vice president of Marketing and Corporate Responsibility for PeoplesBank, has said many times that his bank’s guiding philosophy is to give a little to a lot of groups.

“Obviously, a bank can’t solve all the area’s problems, but when we do things along with other good corporate citizens, we feel we make a difference in people’s lives.”

“Some organizations will give a lot to a few groups. If a hospital is building a new cancer wing or an emergency room or something like that, those tend to be very large donations because they are very large projects. We take the opposite approach. We want to be in as many places as we possibly can.”

As a result, PeoplesBank gave away $1.6 million last year to 550 different nonprofits, Bannister noted. “You do the math, and it’s about $2,500 or $3,000 per grant, which doesn’t mean much to a large corporation that’s building a hospital … but it does mean a lot to a small nonprofit with a shoestring budget. So the ability to impact many organizations as possible is the route that we choose.”

 

Making the World Better

That said, corporate responsibility goes well beyond writing checks, Bannister explained.

“Corporate responsibility, to me, means standing for something that benefits the public at large. It’s a way to telegraph the values that a company has, and a consumer can use that information to make decisions. One of the factors when they’re purchasing a product or a service is, ‘who am I buying this from, and what do they do that makes the world a better place,’ as opposed to ‘what are they not doing, or what are they doing that makes the world a worse place?’”

So, that extends not only to philanthropy, but to what vendors and suppliers a bank partners with, and whether they share similar values.

“You might say a certain percentage of the vendors of a company should be minority-led organizations or women-led organizations. So it’s not only how you telegraph your values, but how you put them into action; are you, as a company, spending money to encourage what we think are beneficial programs for society?”

That approach extends to volunteerism as well — an area of community support that virtually every bank based in this region emphasizes.

Dan Moriarty (left, with Veronica Garcia, CEO of Latino Marketing Agency, and John Perez, project office manager at the Hispanic-American Institute

Dan Moriarty (left, with Veronica Garcia, CEO of Latino Marketing Agency, and John Perez, project office manager at the Hispanic-American Institute) enjoys taking many of these big-check photos each year with organizations that benefit from Monson Savings Bank’s giving.

“When employees of a company volunteer in the community, that’s another way the company adds value to the community,” Bannister said, which is why PeoplesBank — and the other institutions that spoke with BusinessWest — pays employees to take volunteer days.

“So United Way has Days of Caring, where teams [of volunteers] will come out, or Habitat for Humanity has a build, where teams will come out, and that’s good for team building. But the company is also saying, ‘you’re not going to do your job today; we’re going to pay you to do something out in the community.’”

That makes a statement about corporate values, which is why Monson Savings Bank recently codified it.

“We’re launching a community service day policy where we pay our full-time employees to donate eight hours of a day, or two half-days, to an organization or a nonprofit,” Moriarty said. “We’ve done that kind of unofficially; now it’s an official policy. We allow employees to donate their time during the work week, and we pay them to go out and support the community. It’s a great thing.”

Such activities also expose employees to the good work being done in the community, and they can be enjoyable, he added. “We’ve had fun helping Revitalize CDC on volunteer projects, or helping out organizations from the United Way to Martin Luther King Family Services to I Found Light Against All Odds, and many others.”

The bank also collects $5 donations from employees every Friday for the ability to wear jeans to work, and those donations are pooled and given to local organizations as well.

At Florence, “volunteerism is a big part of what we do. We encourage it highly in our organization, and we’ll continue to do that,” added Garrity, noting that employees have recently volunteered at organizations including Hampshire Regional YMCA, Greater Springfield Habitat for Humanity, Square One, Caring Health Center, and many more.

At UMassFive, Boivin said, “the level of engagement of our employees is high — it’s the culture here to support others in the community, especially with fundraising that we do with Will Bike 4 Food and the Cancer Walk and Run. We raised over 25 grand combined for those two organizations this year.

“And a lot of that comes from grassroots stuff the employees are doing,” he added. “They’re selling baked goods, they’re creating artworks and selling them in the branches, they’re talking to their families and friends, and they’re donating themselves. We really support the causes we care about.”

UMassFive’s community support also extends to elevating local businesses, as it did when it partnered with UMass Athletics and UMass Sports Properties on a recent contest to recognize a small business that demonstrates service, innovation, and community involvement.

The winner, Sexton Roofing & Siding, received an ad package worth $10,000, allowing it to be featured on digital displays, radio reads, email blasts, and tabling opportunities during and surrounding the university’s sporting events. “That’s another way to practice corporate responsibility, by amplifying other businesses,” Boivin said.

 

Moving the Needle

And then, there are the votes.

Two local banks — Florence Savings Bank, through its Customers’ Choice program, and Monson Savings Bank, through its Community Giving Initiative — just finished another annual round of voting by customers and community members on what organizations they’d like the banks to support with donations.

“We began this back in 2010. We’re aware of a lot of different nonprofits that are doing a lot of good work, but not all of them,” Moriarty said, and since its inception, the program has grown significantly. “It’s exciting — now we have nonprofits say, ‘hey, Dan, when do we launch the CGI initiative, so we can get the information to voters?’ It’s been a great program for us, and we’ve met a lot of great organizations across the Pioneer Valley.”

Florence Bank’s program is in its 23rd year, and the most recent round of voting drew more than 7,000 ballots, Garrity noted. “We’ve even tried to provide, for the benefit of a lot of our nonprofit organizations, tips on how to get the message out to their supporters around Customers’ Choice. It’s really been something the community has embraced.”

Readers have probably noticed the word ‘community’ repeated often throughout this article — more than two dozen times, in fact. But there’s a good reason for that.

“The word ‘community’ can be overused, but it really does feel like we’re a community of people helping others in the community,” Boivin said. “Our whole mission is set up to help people. The biggest way we do that is in the financial world, but there are a lot of other pillars here.

“When you think about the budgets we have for marketing and outreach, they are not as big as some of the community banks in our area,” he went on. “And, yes, we write checks and donate money, but a lot of it, for us, comes down to volunteer efforts and fundraising and spreading the word about events organizations are having, or participating in those events when they have them.

“A lot of it is a boots-on-the-ground effort,” Boivin added. “We don’t just write checks; we show up. That’s an internal mantra of ours.”

Community Bank Wins ABA Foundation Community Commitment Award

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Daily News

DEWITT, N.Y. — Community Bank’s community-development program has been nationally recognized with a 2024 ABA Foundation Community Commitment Award from the American Bankers Assoc. Foundation. Community Bank was chosen for its efforts in the volunteerism category and was presented with the award during ABA’s annual convention on Oct. 29 in New York City.

In 2023, Community Bank broke records for volunteerism and philanthropic investments across its network of more than 200 branches in Upstate New York, Northeastern Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Western Mass. Last year, more than 500 bank employees served on nonprofit boards and committees and spent more than 16,000 hours volunteering to help customers and community members. The bank supported more than 2,100 organizations, and branches collected more than 5,600 non-perishable food items for 100 food banks. Community Bank also contributed $3.7 million in donations, grants, and sponsorships, a nearly 24% increase in financial contributions from 2022.

Entries were submitted in seven categories: affordable housing, community and economic development, financial education, economic inclusion, protecting older Americans, supporting military families, and volunteerism. Award winners were chosen by a field of nationally recognized experts in each field.

The selection committee chose the winning banks based on the creativity and thoughtfulness of programs — traditional or innovative in nature and structure — that embody the ideals of corporate social responsibility and demonstrate success in making an impact.

“Community Bank’s community development program demonstrated the extraordinary impact that banks can make in the communities they serve,” said Lindsay Torrico, executive director of the ABA Foundation. “We’re proud to recognize them as one of the 2024 Community Commitment Award winners and hope their efforts will inspire others throughout the industry.”

Added Maureen Gillan-Myer, Community Bank’s chief Human Resource & Administration officer, “there’s a reason ‘community’ comes before ‘bank’ in our name. Giving back to our community is embedded in our culture. Our team collectively strives to make a measurable impact on the communities we serve through more than just financial means, and we’re honored to see those efforts recognized by the ABA Foundation.”

Community Bank Hires Darcy Tarte as New England Regional Retail Banking Manager

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Daily News

Darcy Tarte

WILLISTON, Vt. — Community Bank recently welcomed Darcy Tarte as regional Retail Banking manager. In her new role, Tarte will lead, oversee, and manage the Retail Banking team and retail banking relationships across the bank’s New England footprint in Vermont, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.

Tarte has 30 years of experience in the banking industry. Prior to joining Community Bank, she served as regional market manager at TD Bank and as market manager at People’s United Bank.

“I’m excited to welcome Darcy to Community Bank and look forward to Darcy and the New England team working together as we continue to build upon our efforts to grow the bank’s retail business across our New England footprint,” said Hal Wentworth, Community Bank’s senior vice president of Retail Banking and Marketing.

Tarte earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and banking from the New England College of Business and Finance. She serves on the board of the Addison County Economic Development Corp. in Middlebury, Vt.

Community Bank to Expand Its Presence in Springfield

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Community Bank’s branch inside Tower Square
Banking and Financial Services

Doubling Down

Community Bank’s branch inside Tower Square

Community Bank’s branch inside Tower Square will be complemented later this year by a second Springfield location on Boston Road.

 

 

 

When Community Bank expanded in 2017 with the acquisition of Merchants Bank, it gained a large network of branches in Vermont … and one in Massachusetts.

That office is located in Tower Square in downtown Springfield and had been NUVO Bank before hanging the Merchants banner. Located far from any other Community location — the organization has a strong presence in Pennsylvania and New York as well as its newer footprint in Vermont — it wouldn’t have been surprising had Community shed it altogether. But the bank saw value in a Springfield presence.

And now, seven years later, it’s doubling down, planning to open a second Springfield location on Boston Road later this year.

“It’s a market that’s not too far from Albany, but far enough where it’s a very distinct market by itself. And because it’s one branch, it’s been a little bit under the radar,” President and CEO Dimitar Karaivanov said. “But it’s a good market with good opportunities, and we have a really good team in the market, and the level of energy and activity in Springfield has been very hot.

“So almost a year ago, we decided we hadn’t given Springfield its rightful chance to succeed,” he went on. “We’re just one branch and have a good team, but we’re somewhat limited by the fact that it’s only one branch downtown. So we decided to kind of invest in the team and the opportunities that we have in the market, and we’re going to double our presence.”

The bank is doing so, he said, in locations that make strategic sense, and also, in some cases, investing in lower-income areas. “We’re looking at communities that offer opportunity from an economic perspective, but we also consider it our responsibility to invest in communities and bring them along in terms of growth. That’s how we’ve been selecting some areas that we’re going into.”

While Greater Springfield has been called overbanked, Karaivanov said Community Bank sees plenty of potential in expanding.

“We’re just one branch and have a good team, but we’re somewhat limited by the fact that it’s only one branch downtown. So we decided to kind of invest in the team and the opportunities that we have in the market, and we’re going to double our presence.”

“There’s no lack of competition in Springfield — there are a lot of banks, a lot of mutuals, a lot of credit unions,” he said. “But the reason that we feel like we can be successful is our team. So we’re really investing in our team. That’s how we look at expansion; it’s really people-based. Obviously, the market needs to be sizable enough for another entrant, but we feel like we’ve got a team that we have basically under-leveraged over the past several years. And now we’re trying to give them more runway and opportunity to be successful.”

 

Branching Out

As Community Bank expands in Springfield and other markets, it’s doing so, the organization explains, by reimagining the in-branch experience with clean, modern designs that encourage customer and banker collaboration, local community tie-ins, and staff that can handle a wide array of financial needs.

“Branches are still pretty important, and I think they will continue to be important,” Karaivanov said. “If you look at where most accounts, especially new accounts, are opened, it is still predominantly in the branch. People still get their mortgages predominantly in the branch. That initial contact with a financial institution is mostly in the branch.

“Now, when you open your second account, or if you are already a customer of a bank, you might go online to apply for a mortgage and other things. But to get into the ecosystem, usually the average person still starts in the branch.”

He cited the example of JPMorgan Chase launching an online-only bank six years ago, “and no one’s heard of it since,” he noted. “Instead, you’re seeing JPMorgan open branches all over the place. It’s hard to be just online. You need both parts.”

To that end, modern branch designs are different than the old, traditional model of counters and lines, he added.

“Today, the branch is really more advisory and consultative than transaction-based because transactions are easy to do on your phone, and you don’t need to go into the branch for a specific transaction anymore. But people do go to the branch for advice and for questions and when they have a problem. So spaces in the branch are designed in a much different way.”

Dimitar Karaivanov

Dimitar Karaivanov

“Transactions are easy to do on your phone, and you don’t need to go into the branch for a specific transaction anymore. But people do go to the branch for advice and for questions and when they have a problem.”

Community Bank currently boasts 28 branches in New England, all but one of them in Vermont, and its current expansion plans include the first New Hampshire branch in addition to the second Springfield location.

“Community Bank is not just expanding, but deepening our roots in New England,” said Matthew Durkee, regional president for New England. “Our branches are the cornerstone of our retail business, and each one allows us to support the community and deepen our relationships with our customers as we partner together throughout their financial journey.”

Those community relationships involve philanthropy and volunteerism in communities where the bank has a presence, Karaivanov added.

“We do a lot of that, led by our branch staff most of the time,” he told BusinessWest. “It’s in our name, right? So we live by it. Our people are involved, they’re on boards, they’re in the Rotary Clubs, they know their neighbors, they’re supporting the local schools, teams, and everything else. It’s how we distinguish ourselves. Those are our neighbors, they’re our friends, and being part of the community is just as important as being a financial institution.”

With its commitment to Springfield affirmed, he added that Community Bank could look to expand further in Massachusetts where it makes sense.

“Hopefully, as we are successful in this expansion, we would like to do more. I’m a big believer in getting behind your success. So if we continue to be successful in Springfield, we’re going to continue to grow.

“Again, this has been a little bit of an outpost for us. Meanwhile, the team’s been doing a great job. And now is the time for us to empower them to do even more.”

 

One-stop Shop

Earlier this month, Community Bank System Inc. — which encompasses four key businesses: banking, benefits administration, insurance, and wealth management — changed its name to Community Financial System Inc. to better reflect the company’s reach.

“The new name allows us to emphasize the evolution of our capabilities, solutions, and focus,” Karaivanov said. “In aggregate, over 39% of our revenue is comprised of diversified fee-income businesses, well over twice that of industry peers. Bringing all of that under the new name, Community Financial System, underscores our mission and drives our inclusiveness as one company.”

It’s a different model, he said, than financial-services organizations in which banking is 90% of the pie.

“We’re a bit of a unicorn because we have four different businesses, and the way we run the company, the bank is our largest business, but it’s not the whole business. With our benefits business, we help people with their 401(k) plans; we administer those all over the country. Or, if you’re an individual and you’re coming for a mortgage from us, we can directly give you a quote for the homeowners’ insurance as well.”

Meanwhile “if you have amounts in your banking accounts that clearly can be invested in better outcomes for you, we’ve got the wealth-management side of the house, or the trust capability. And on the commercial side, especially for small to mid-sized businesses, we can provide everything from capital to insurance to managing their benefit plans, actually helping them with HR consulting.

“It gives us a real leg up when we talk to customers because we’re not just a one-widget shop,” Karaivanov added. “We can provide comprehensive solutions.”

Community Bank Promotes Gilbert Nieves to District Manager

By
Daily News

Gilbert Nieves

SPRINGFIELD — Community Bank announced that Gilbert Nieves has been promoted to district manager. In his new role, Nieves will oversee strategy and operations for branches in Vermont and Massachusetts, ensuring administration of the bank’s financial goals and objectives, including business development. He will also be responsible for staff training, coaching, and professional development for continued excellence in customer service and operations.

With more than two decades of experience in the financial industry, Nieves first joined Community Bank in 2019 as branch manager of the Springfield location. In that role, he oversaw daily office operations, including sales and customer-service activities, to ensure operational efficiency, integrity, and adherence to policies and procedures. Prior to that, he served the Springfield community in other banking and financial roles, including vice president and branch manager at Webster Bank and assistant city treasurer for the city of Springfield.

“Gilbert has been a true asset to our team since day one, and I’m looking forward to all that he’ll accomplish as he steps into this new role,” New England District Manager Matt Villemaire said. “His financial experience and commitment to the communities we serve, both in and outside of day-to-day operations, have positioned our branches across New England for continued success.”

Outside of the office, Nieves is an active member of the community, serving his congregation as a Bible instructor and volunteering at Springfield Public Schools. In addition, he facilitates financial-literacy workshops at the Gándara Center, as well as first-time homebuying seminars at Way Finders. He is also a member of the Springfield Chamber of Commerce and Business Network International’s Springfield chapter. He holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Universidad Metropolitana in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Community Bank Announces Plans to Expand Branch Presence

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Daily News

DEWITT, N.Y. — Community Bank announced a strategic plan to expand its branch presence in select markets throughout 2024 and 2025, including two new branch locations in the New England region. The new branches will include an additional location in Springfield, as well as the bank’s first physical branch in New Hampshire, having broken into that market with a commercial banking presence in 2023.

The bank’s current presence in New England includes 28 branches throughout Vermont and Springfield. This announcement comes as newly appointed President and CEO Dimitar Karaivanov officially steps into his role this year and begins to execute his strategic vision for the bank.

As Community Bank expands into promising markets with strong potential for growth, it is reimagining the customer in-branch experience with clean, modern designs that encourage customer and banker collaboration, local community tie-ins, and staff that can handle a wide array of financial needs. The bank will bring a full suite of consumer, business, and municipal banking products and services, including no-closing-cost mortgage options, business loans and lines of credit, and competitive CD offerings.

“Community Bank is not just expanding, but deepening our roots in New England,” said Matthew Durkee, regional president of New England. “Our branches are the cornerstone of our retail business, and each one allows us to support the community and deepen our relationships with our customers as we partner together throughout their financial journey.”

The move to establish additional branch locations in New England is a substantial investment that will allow the bank to better serve clients and aid in local economic development by creating new jobs, contributing to community efforts, and fostering financial stability.

“We are pleased to officially announce our plans to expand our branch presence throughout New England,” Karaivanov said. “We’ve served the New England market through various lines of business and are happy to further support new and existing customers with additional branch services. We are poised to execute on our growth strategy with the goal of bringing our service offerings to more communities in Springfield, Massachusetts, and in New Hampshire. We look forward to expanding our presence in the New England region through community outreach, supporting our neighbors, and building relationships with our new customers.”

In addition to expanding in New England, Community Bank will continue to grow its branch presence throughout New York’s Western, Central, and Capital regions, as well as throughout Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania.

Community Bank Donates $6,500 to Open Pantry Community Services

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Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — Community Bank recently donated $6,500 to support Open Pantry Community Services.

Open Pantry aims to increase food security for families in the surrounding community through its Emergency Food Bank, Loaves and Fishes Community Kitchen, and holiday meal programs. It further supports those in need by providing Teen Parent and Open Door Social Services programs, as well as permanent housing for homeless single women recovering from substance abuse.

“We’re honored to donate to Open Pantry Community Services,” Community Bank Branch Manager Gilbert Nieves said. “The programs and services they provide have a tremendous impact on our community, and we’re happy to support them in any way we can.”

Open Pantry welcomes individuals and groups willing to help the community through volunteering at the Emergency Food Pantry, Loaves and Fishes Community Kitchen, the People’s Center, Open Door Social Services, and the holiday meal program.

Community Bank, N.A. Works to Live Up to the Sign Over the Door

By
Mike Buckmaster
Banking and Financial Services

What’s in a Name? Plenty

Mike Buckmaster

Mike Buckmaster, vice president of Commercial Lending for Community Bank, N.A.

Since entering the market in 2017 through the acquisition of Merchants Bank and its branch in Springfield’s Tower Square, Community Bank, N.A. has been working to build on its foundation in this region. It brings to the highly competitive local banking landscape both considerable size and an operating mindset commensurate with the name on the letterhead.

Mark Tryniski acknowledges that it sounds illogical that a financial-services institution with $12 billion in assets and more than 230 branches could call itself a community bank — let alone call itself Community Bank, N.A.

But Tryniski, president and CEO of the Syracuse, N.Y.-based institution, said ‘Community Bank’ represents more than a name — and one that fits. Indeed, it’s more like an attitude.

“As our name suggests, we’re a community bank — that’s how we’ve always operated,” he explained. “And when you put the name ‘Community’ on your bank, you’d better function as a community bank — and we do.

“There is such a thing as a community-bank model,” he continued. “You push authority down to people in the branches, as opposed to the big-bank model, where you walk in the door looking for a home-equity loan and they put you on the phone with a 1-800 number and someone working in another country. Community banks don’t do that.”

Mark Tryniski

Mark Tryniski

 “When you put the name ‘Community’ on your bank, you’d better function as a community bank — and we do.”

This operating mindset has enabled the institution to grow considerably over the past several years and into a number of different markets, including Springfield, accomplished through the acquisition in 2017 of Merchants Bank, which had previously acquired NUVO Bank, which operated a single branch within the 413 within a large footprint in Tower Square.

Since putting its name over the door on Main Street, Community Bank, N.A. has downsized that space considerably, while simultaneously working to establish itself and broaden its horizons within this market.

It has done so by essentially living up to the name over the door, said both Tryniski and Mike Buckmaster, vice president of Commercial Lending. They both said the institution possesses the formula that’s required to succeed today — a community-bank feel, but a large size that is necessary in a changing, quite challenging financial-services marketplace today.

“I think that, over a period of time, the market has accepted the fact, to a degree, that this is a consolidating industry,” said Buckmaster, who has logged more than 30 years in the banking industry, locally and in the U.K., and has carried business cards bearing the logos of NUVO and Merchants Bank, among others. “The differentiating factor tends to be the commercial banker, and if the commercial banker can continue to deliver in terms of service and business development, there tends to be a good degree of customer loyalty toward the banker, even through various acquisitions.”

That lengthy explanation helps explain why the Springfield facility has been able to enjoy steady growth in its portfolio even as the name on the wall of Tower Square has changed several times this decade.

Tryniski agreed, but said the combination of size and small-bank attitude is becoming ever more important as the consolidation movement continues without any signs of slowing down.

“I’ve been around the banking industry for a little more than 30 years, and there’s been a dramatic change in the banking landscape, mostly centered around consolidation,” he explained. “When I started, in the ’80s, there were 16,000 or 18,000 banks; now, there are roughly 6,000 banks.

“And I think the trend toward consolidation will continue because of efficiencies that can be garnered by scale and technology,” he went on. “The bigger you get, the more you can justify investments in technology to give you more efficiency. It’s hard for the smaller banks — you have to really be efficient and disciplined.”

Overall, Community Bank will look to get bigger still, and is looking at opportunities to expand within the Western Mass. and Connecticut markets, said Tryniski, but “haven’t found what the right opportunity is yet,” as he put it. Elaborating, he said growth for this institution will continue to come as it has historically, through a mix of organic growth and acquisition, with more of the latter than the former, especially in areas with slow or no growth but more than enough competition, and Western Mass. certainly fits that category.

In such markets, growth can come only by taking market share from other institutions, he went on, adding that this is generally difficult to do. Community Bank has had a good amount of success doing just that, however, because of that aforementioned enviable combination of large size and smaller-bank feel.

Community Bank, N.A.

Mark Tryniski says Community Bank, N.A. will look for opportunities to expand locally beyond its location in Tower Square.

For this issue and its focus on banking and financial services, BusinessWest talked at length with Tryniski and Buckmaster about how Community Bank, N.A. has firmly established its presence in the local market and how it intends to secure additional market share and perhaps expand its footprint in the 413.

By All Accounts

Since acquiring Merchants, and therefore all its branches, Tryniski has visited Springfield on several occasions as part of his efforts to fully understand the broad geographic area served by the institution — one that stretches from the Northern Kingdom in Vermont to the Southwest corner of New York to the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania — and meet both team members and customers.

“We spend a lot of time on the road,” he said of the management team at the bank, adding that, when he does visit Springfield, or any other community served by the bank, he makes a point of learning as much about the region as he can.

In the City of Homes, he’s become familiar with some of the players within the business community, has found a few restaurants he likes, and is both impressed with and encouraged by the high level of energy he’s seeing in the central business district.

He said there are a great many similarities between Springfield and Syracuse, and in some ways, that has helped him understand the dynamics of not only the communities themselves, but the banking environment here.

“They’re remarkably similar, actually,” he said. “They have the same population, they have an industrial history, they have a stable-but-not-growing population, there’s a lot of education, the downtowns look very similar … they’re very much alike. Springfield feels to me like Syracuse.”

From a banking perspective, that means a community that, as he said, is experiencing comparatively little growth, population-wise and new-business-wise, and has a crowded field of competitors for financial-services products — banks and non-banks alike.

In this environment, operating with that community-bank model — but with roughly $3 billion in assets behind the institution — is what amounts to a competitive advantage — a large competitive advantage, said Tryniski.

“We tell our branch managers that we want them to be the president of the bank in their town,” he explained. “And we give them the authority to do that; we give them lending authority and authority around charitable contributions, fee waivers, fee adjustments, things like that. We try to vest as much authority in our branch managers locally as we can, and let them make decisions about their customers and their market.

“We probably have more of a community-bank business model than most community banks,” he went on, “because most don’t operate like that.”

However, in this market, there are still a large number of community banks — more than in many other markets — and this simple math requires that small-bank mindset. Meanwhile, the field of competitors continues to change and grow, thanks to technology, which has brought many non-bank players into the mix, said Tryniski.

“We compete now with all sorts of non-bank competitors on the lending side — for everything,” he told BusinessWest. “Whether it’s personal loans, business loans, car loans … it doesn’t matter what kind of loan you’re making, you’re competing against a multitude of other, non-banking enterprises. And the same is true on the deposit side as well.”

Buckmaster agreed, noting that, on the commercial-lending side, with all that competition, as well as all that consolidation, having a local address is not the same thing as having people who know the local market and have worked within it for years, if not decades.

“All that competition puts the emphasis very much on the banker and being able to provide the service and support growth going forward as clients need,” he said, adding that Community Bank is large and stable, and thus able to provide commercial-banking products of all sizes, including dollar amounts beyond the scope of many of the smaller community banks that populate the region.

The sweet spot for the bank, though, is loans between $1 million and $3.5 million, he said, adding that the bank is able and willing to continue writing loans for small-business owners, something the very large banks seem less interested in doing so.

This flexibility has enabled the institution now known as Community Bank, N.A. to continue to serve the customers added to its portfolio when it was NUVO, he went on, adding that loans have been written for businesses across virtually all sectors and for a number of commercial real-estate acquisitions as well.

“We’ve have some customers who were initially small back eight or nine years ago who have grown into significant customers that require a significant increase in loan support going forward,” he told BusinessWest. “We’ve seen some good growth in commercial and industrial customers over that period of time, and in addition, we’ve also seen significant new dollars in different types of commercial-investment real estate, whether it be locally in Western Mass. or further afield.”

Worthy of Interest

Returning to some of those numbers mentioned earlier — the 230 branches and current status as the 125th-largest bank in the country — Tryniski said they certainly make Community Bank, N.A. sound big. And it is.

“But we’re a lot close to the smallest bank in the country than we are to the biggest, even though the numbers say we’re one of the biggest,” he noted, adding that, in today’s banking climate, it’s not how big a bank looks on paper that matters, but how big it acts in the markets it serves.

And with that as the benchmark, this institution does indeed live up to the words on its stationary and over those 230-odd doors.

George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]