RSS 2.0 FeedSeptember 3, 2010, Merrick Life
Local bank bases growth on strength and caring
First National Bank of Merrick has close ties to the community.
IN THE NEWS are (from left) First National Bank of Long Island’s Merrick branch Assistant Managers Joseph Nappi and Linda Rowse, bank President and CEO Michael Vittorio and Vice President and Branch Manager Cathy O’Malley.
Kiplinger’s, Independent Banker, Newsday and Long Island Business News have all been covering a local bank that has been providing some of the good news in an otherwise troubled industry. The First National Bank of Long Island, established in 1927, has been building a reputation as a strong bank and a caring bank, which donates a percentage of its profits to charity and is the largest bank contributor to the Harry Chapin Food Bank. Evidence of its strength is found in a study released by Bank Intelligence Solutions, a banking research company.
The study identified the highest-performing banks in the country. It named 61 such banks, and only two of these operate in New York State. The First National Bank of Long Island was one of the two banks, and the only bank in the Long Island and New York Metropolitan area. According to bank President and CEO Michael Vittorio of Merrick, the bank has been praised by a number of analysts for its management’s efforts in guiding the institution through the worst recessionary environment since the Great Depression.
It has avoided the types of bad assets that have threatened so many other financial institutions. It has one of the strongest balance sheets in the country and when most banks have been shrinking, The First National Bank of Long Island continues to grow. In the last three years, on a compounded annual growth rate, it has grown assets by 21% and it is expected to reach the $2 billion mark soon. The bank’s profitability remains strong, and over the last three years, it is one of the very few banks that has continued to see its stock go up.
Both Sandler O’Neill Partners, L.P. and Howe Barnes Hoefer & Arnett, Inc. are investment banks that do research on The First National Bank of Long Island, and are recommending the bank’s stock to the public. The bank opened a branch in Bellmore on Bedford Avenue in June, with Julie Freund at the helm as assistant vice president and branch manager. Mr. Vittorio says it will be opening two more branches in 2011; one in Massapequa and one in Point Lookout, and may become the largest independent commercial bank on Long Island sometime next year.
With the addition of the two branches, the bank will now have 35 locations in Nassau, Suffolk and Manhattan. Mr. Vittorio adds, “We are strong, profitable and growing. Most of all, we are friendly. This approach has become part of our corporate culture. People and businesses want to deal with a bank where they feel they are known. We are that bank.” The Merrick branch opened five years ago in the community that has the most households with over $100,000 income on Long Island, according to the Yellow Pages Reverse Directory.
Most of its customers are affluent, many are professionals but it serves all members of the community, with Cathy O’Malley at the helm as vice president and branch manager. Mr. Vittorio says its success “has a lot to do with Cathy, (assistant managers) Linda Rowse, Joseph Nappi and staff. People feel comfortable dealing with people they like. “How many bank managers do you think send birthday cards to their customers?
This really is the bank ‘Where Everyone Knows Your Name!’” He says fellow Merokians stop him on the street to tell him what a good job Mrs. O’Malley is doing, not only for the bank but for the community as treasurer of the Merrick Chamber of Commerce and its Small Businessperson of the Year, and as incoming first vice-president of Merrick Kiwanis.
She also lets We Care Blankets store supplies in the bank building on Merrick Avenue, and sets up collection boxes for Toys for Tots and Long Island Cares in the branch. The bank donates to the fire departments, the street fair and schools, where the bank also conducts a “Teach Children To Save” program.
In this way, she is following the example of her boss, who has been involved at Curé, in soccer with CYO and PAL; and his wife, Linda, who has been active in Birch, Merrick Avenue and high school PTAs, and the Booster Club. Their children now all live in Manhattan: Jennifer, a pediatric gastroenterologist at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, Michael, a CPA at Goldman Sachs, and Amy, a managing director at RF Binder, a public relations firm.
The bank has several other Merrick connections. Assistant Manager Joseph Nappi grew up in Merrick as did Mr. Miller, the bank’s first employee and second president. The elegant branch, complete with fireplace, features historical murals inspired from photos supplied by the late Louis Kruh of the Historical Society of the Merricks. An old-fashioned clock outside is a gift to the Merrick community from the bank.