Building a regional business at First Niagara
In her second-floor office above a bank branch in downtown Nyack, Cathie A. Schaffer took a phone call from a colleague at First Niagara Financial Group Inc., the Buffalo bank with a still quite new name and business presence, and a 2 percent market share as of June last year, in the tristate region.
In commercial banking, Schaffer, a Westchester native and Mount Kisco resident, leads First Niagara”™s pioneering downstate effort on what for her is familiar ground. One year ago, she left what she called “a terrific job” and an office on Westchester”™s Platinum Mile as senior vice president and division manager for middle market banking at JPMorgan Chase & Co. to orchestrate First Niagara”™s venture into the lower Hudson Valley and Fairfield County, Conn.
As regional president at First Niagara, “I”™m responsible for everything that goes on in the region,” she said. “I view this job as I”™m conductor of the orchestra. In my previous roles, I was first violinist of the violin section.
“My role is so broad that I”™m actually getting to see all the gears of the bank turning. It”™s been an education. It”™s been a lot of fun. It”™s like trying to take a microwave oven apart to see how it works.”
From the bank”™s regional center in Nyack and a second office in Norwalk, Conn., Schaffer leads a still-growing team of bankers that looks to land new business banking, middle market and corporate customers. She signed on one year after the 144-year-old bank ventured into new territory with its acquisition of HSBC Bank USA”™s statewide network of branches outside New York City and in southern Connecticut. With a market capitalization of $3.8 billion and nearly 6,000 employees and 420 branches, First Niagara also operates banks in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.
“That”™s exciting,” Schaffer said after hanging up her desk phone. “We just landed a superstar.”
For Schaffer, building a banking team is critical to building the bank”™s share of commercial loans and business deposits in the region. “The stars have to align,” she said.
“If you put the right people in the right jobs,” she said, recalling a respected executive”™s advice, “the results take care of themselves. That”™s been my mantra.”
For a banker to make that career move into uncharted territory, “You have to be willing to be a bit of a pioneer because the brand is new to this area,” Schaffer said. “You have to have a lot of confidence in your ability to bring in new business.”
“You”™re really starting with you,” she said. “The business community, they might not know the name of the bank; they know the name of the banker. That”™s how you first establish your bona fides, if you will.”
Schaffer first established hers at Bank of New York, where she worked for 16 years, rising to a senior vice president position as group head of commercial banking for the Westchester/Putnam/Bronx region. “I was acquired by Chase when Chase acquired Bank of New York” in 2006, she said.
Interviewing at First Niagara, Schaffer said she was swayed to take the career leap by the words of the bank”™s chief risk officer. “He said, ”˜You will make a difference.”™ For some reason that resonated with me.”
“The idea that I would be starting a new region from scratch for a top 25 bank was irresistible.” What”™s more, the banker”™s 84-year-old father insisted she take the job offered her. Father knows best.
“In this day and age, most opportunities at this level to start a regional bank would mean you have to move halfway across the country and start from scratch,” Schaffer said. “I was starting on my own turf. That took some of the fear out.”
“This really is almost from scratch,” she said. “There was some what I would call legacy business in Fairfield County,” due in part to First Niagara”™s acquisition of NewAlliance Bank, a Connecticut savings bank, in 2011. “It was a pretty small book of business, so we”™re kind of starting almost from the beginning.”
“In an acquisition scenario, you definitely want to retain your clients and the mandate is you get new ones.”
In this region, “We”™re seeing very good loan growth across the board and very good growth in client acquisition,” she said. “It”™s going to take a few years but in the future we”™ll be a significant contributor to the bank”™s overall results.”
Schaffer said most of the bank”™s transactions with commercial customers are confidential. In a publicly announced deal last year, First Niagara provided $22 million in financing to two prominent developers in the region ”“ Bronx-based Simone Healthcare Development and Fareri Associates L.P. in Greenwich ”“ for construction of an 85,000-square-foot medical office building at 3030 Westchester Ave. in Purchase. First Niagara bankers recognize the opportunities presented by the region”™s growing health care market, she said.
“Over the next few years the bank”™s presence in this market will become more and more visible,” she said. “I think the fact of putting a regional headquarters in Westchester will be a real stake in the ground. I”™m looking forward to that.”
Schaffer said First Niagara has narrowed its headquarters options to three buildings in the White Plains and Tarrytown office park corridors, where it will lease 17,000 to 18,000 square feet of space. Forty-three employees will relocate to the new headquarters this year, she said.
“As we get everybody under one roof, it becomes a much more compelling place for people to want to work,” she said.
“It”™s a challenge to get a new name in the market out there,” she said. “The region is still very much in formation. Sometimes I get frustrated by that. But then I have to remind myself that that”™s what I”™m here to do.”
“This isn”™t about me,” said banking”™s orchestra conductor. “It”™s really about the team. My pioneers are doing a great job.”