Start-up bank proposed for New Canaan - Westfair Communications

An effort is underway to launch a de novo bank in New Canaan.

According to a Hartford Business Journal report, the start-up New Canaan Bank would be the first commercial bank launched in Connecticut since the 2010 opening of Start Community Bank, now known as New Haven Bank. The bank plans to have its headquarters at 208 Elm St. in a former Bankwell Financial Group branch.

An application has been submitted to the state”™s Department of Banking but the bank’s organizers, which include Frederick Afragola, former chairman, president and CEO of The Bank of New Canaan, and Heidi DeWyngaert, former president and chief lending officer of Bankwell Financial Corp. Louis Garcia, a former managing partner of the investment management firm CBAM, is the proposed president and CEO of the new bank.

“The organizers have identified an unfilled niche in the Fairfield County banking market,” said the bank”™s organizers in their business plan. “As large banks acquired smaller ones and personal service was subjected to consolidation strategies, the opportunity has increased for locally-owned, operated and highly personal service-oriented banks.”