If nothing else, Peyton R. Patterson knows how to make an entrance ”” and then some.
Since Patterson became CEO of BNC Financial Group Inc. last September, the New Canaan firm ”” which includes The Bank of New Canaan, The Bank of Fairfield and Stamford First Bank and their five collective branches ”” has launched new mobile and web applications, set a quarterly earnings record, announced plans to acquire The Wilton Bank and unveiled an ambitious rebranding and expansion project.
Come September, BNC will be renamed Bankwell Financial Group, with the bank”™s five branches following suit as the company looks to establish a stronger regional identity. The name Bankwell was announced at BNC”™s June 26 annual shareholders meeting.
“This gets down to things like changing forms, business cards, websites ”” everything about ourselves ”” and so we need to undertake all that but it needs to appear seamless to our clients,” Patterson told the Business Journal. “They have to enjoy the launch of the brand. It”™s all about execution. I believe strongly that I have the team in place to pull it off.”
Patterson said the bank”™s five-year strategic plan calls for a diversification of its business lines and expansion in the breadth of services it offers to clients, increased efficiency across its branch network and an expanded footprint, which she said she hopes to accomplish both through organic growth and select acquisitions in the directions of New Haven and Westchester County, N.Y.
The current project includes the relocation of the bank”™s two Fairfield branches by the fourth quarter of 2013 in the name of increased visibility, and the launch of two branches ”” one in Norwalk and one in Stamford ”” in the first and second quarters of 2014, respectively.
The bank recently opened a loan production office in Bridgeport, and in the fall will add a wealth management unit within its bank branches.
BNC”™s acquisition of The Wilton Bank for $5 million, which was first announced in mid June, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year. The transaction, which has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both firms, is expected to bring BNC about $75.1 million in new assets. Once the purchase is finalized, The Wilton Bank will also be renamed Bankwell.
“We feel like we”™ve got the wind at our backs and we”™re being very disciplined and we”™ve got strong momentum,” Patterson said. “We didn”™t go into this exercise lightly ”” to change a name is a pretty tricky thing. ”¦ We wanted to find something that would feel additive, that would make people feel good, that would be a testament to who we are.”
In early June BNC reported first-quarter net income of $1 million, falling just shy of the bank”™s $1.2 million in earnings for the entirety of 2012, with a 4.16 percent quarterly margin.
For the year ending March 31, assets grew 25 percent to $631 million and loans were up 34 percent. Patterson said deposits have grown at a 26 percent annual rate, “which is completely outperforming any of our competitors, large and small.”
While Fairfield County is often described as oversaturated from a banking perspective, Patterson said the future Bankwell would be well positioned relative to its competitors.
“I think the way we approach the market versus a lot of our competitors is unique,” Patterson said. “While there may be a lot of banks in Fairfield County, not all of them are in a position of strength” from a credit or talent standpoint, “so we believe this is kind of a unique opportunity for a bank like us.”
Patterson may be new to BNC but she is far from a stranger to the local market.
The veteran of nearly three decades in banking pioneered the conversion of New Haven Savings Bank from a mutual company to a publicly owned firm in 2004, simultaneously engineering the acquisitions of Connecticut Bancshares and Alliance Bancorp of New England.
The resulting bank, NewAlliance Bancshares, recorded consistently strong growth with Patterson as its chairman and CEO, leading to a $1.5 billion acquisition by First Niagara Financial Group that was announced in August 2010.
She said the same principles that guided her then hold true in the case of BNC”™s transformation.
“I think that for any company to be successful it has to have a strategy with runways: in terms of, how are you going to continue to build and sustain your profitability (and) how are you going to continue reinventing yourself so you resonate with clients,” she said.
“I tend to jump feet-first into what I do, and I guess that is what I saw as the opportunity here because of where the company was positioned and the success they have had,” Patterson continued. “I saw this as the little crown jewel that just needed to reinvent itself. ”¦ I just needed to make sure we were able to execute on that strategy.”
