A Personal Touch Brings Success For The Westchester Bank

Commercial banking hasn’t been the friendliest of environments of late. But one local bank seems to be breaking the mold—and reaping the rewards.

It’s been a banner year for The Westchester Bank, a full-service commercial bank with four county locations. Founded six years ago and now one of Westchester’s fastest-growing community lenders, the bank has seen a flurry of activity in 2014—hiring people to key positions, opening its newest branch, and surpassing important asset milestones. It also recently announced it will move its corporate headquarters from Yonkers to a state-of-the-art building in the White Plains central business district at the end of the year.

And it’s planning continued expansion in 2015.

What’s behind the success? The Westchester Bank President and CEO John M. Tolomer counts the bank’s personal touch as its winning formula. “In addition to providing bank products and state-of-the-art technology comparable to any big bank, our core strength remains personal attention and exceptional service. ‘Banking Made Personal’ isn’t just our motto; it’s how we do business,” Tolomer says.

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Here are some highlights of the company’s successful year:

Expansion: The bank opened its fourth branch at 51 South Moger Avenue in Mount Kisco on Nov 8 (the other three branches are in Yonkers, White Plains, and Thornwood). It picked Mount Kisco because of the area’s “strong and growing business landscape,” according to Tolomer.

Justin Maneen.

Accolades: DepositAccounts.com included the Westchester Bank on its 2014 list of the Top 200 Healthiest Banks in America. The website uses a proprietary formula to assess the financial health of the banks on its list, looking at such factors as deposit growth and capitalization.

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Assets: In May, the bank announced that its total assets surpassed the $450 million mark. It also indicated loans outstanding in excess of $350 million with deposits over $370 million. “This is a substantial milestone for the Bank as we continue to outpace our most aggressive projections,” Tolomer said at the time.

Staffing: When it opened its new Mount Kisco branch in November, The Bank of Westchester hired Justin Maneen as vice president, branch manager for the new branch. In June, it hired Richard Sadlon, a 30-year IT veteran to the position of vice president, Information Technology, and tapped Kenneth D. Walter, CPA, CFP—formerly the CFO at BCB Community Bank and BCB Bancorp, Inc—to the position of senior vice president, Chief Financial Officer. The bank also added Lisa Summa, a two-time branch manager at other financial institutions, to head up the headquarters branch in Yonkers; and appointed Tracey K. Zimmerman as vice president, chief compliance officer, in April. Zimmerman brings 20 years of banking experience to the role.

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