NBT Bancorp sticks to organic growth

CNY Business Journal (1996+), Jul 30, 2004 by Rombel, Adam

NORWICH - NBT Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ: NBTB), a Norwich-based, financial-services holding company with $4.1 billion in assets. is focused on a strategy of slow and steady growth from within even as upstate New York rivals pursue the merger route.

NBT officials say that recent mergers in Binghamton and Albany have opened up opportunities for it to attract the clients of the banks involved.

"Anytime you have merger activity, you have a displacement of customers. You've got customers that will question their relationship," Michael Chewens, chief financial officer at NBT Bancorp, tells The Central New York Business Journal. "it provides an opportunity for us to pick up other customers."

NBT on July 15 opened its first branch in downtown Binghamton, the day after Utica-based Partners Trust Financial Group, Inc. completed its acquisition of Bingharnton-based BSB Bancorp, Inc. Chewens says the merger completion helped garner added media attention for NBT's branch opening, and the bank is hopeful that it will attract BSB customers.

NBT plans to open "at least two or three more branches in the Greater Binghamton area in the next 12 to 18 months," Chewens says.

In Albany, NBT hopes to benefit from a recent spate of completed or announced mergers, including one involving Charter One Financial. Inc.

NBT is opening offices there to take advantage. In May, NBT relocated its small Albany branch into a much larger facility, creating a regional, financial-services center. says Chewens. "We plan several more branches in the Albany area in the next 12 to 18 months as part of this strategy.," he adds.

But NBT has been down the acquisition path itself. It made two in 2001 - buying CNB Financial Corp., parent of Central National Bank of Canajoharie, as well as First National Bancorp, Inc., based in northern New York.

NBT also tried to acquire BSB in 2001 and 2002, but wasn't successful. It was then that NBT put in motion its organic growth strategy, explains Chewens. The bank opened a 10,000-square-foot financial center Vestal, featuring a fullservice branch as well as commercial and trust operations for the Southern Tier.

"That has exceeded our expectations. Normally, it takes several years for a branch to break even and that one is already doing better than break even in a short period of time," Chewens says. "It's two years ahead of schedule."

NBT, which has almost 1,200 employees, has 72 NBT Bank offices in Upstate New York, and 40 Pennstar Bank branches in northeastern Pennsylvania. It also owns M. Griffith, Inc., a financial planning and investment firm based in New Hartford.