Litchfield Bancorp unveils new Commercial Lending Team

Litchfield Bancorp has assembled a team of lending professionals who offer small businesses in Litchfield County a diverse line of commercial products in addition to their traditional service packages.
By: Litchfield Bancorp
 
LITCHFIELD, Conn. - Sept. 20, 2013 - PRLog -- LITCHFIELD, CT – Litchfield Bancorp’s new commercial lending team is ready to hit the field.

The bank has assembled a resourceful and experienced team of top commercial lending professionals who can offer small business owners throughout Litchfield County a diverse suite of commercial products and services in addition to the bank’s customary personalized service.

“We have a strong array of commercial deposit products that can stand up to those at any of the commercial banks, a large pool of capital from which to make commercial loans, and the friendly, personal service approach of a traditional community bank,” said Thomas J. Villanova, the bank’s president and chief executive officer. “Essentially, we’re a small bank with big bank ability.”

That “big bank ability” springs largely from Litchfield Bancorp’s corporate structure. The bank, along with its sister banks – Northwest Community Bank and Collinsville Savings Society – is part of a three-bank holding company called Connecticut Mutual Holding Co.

As a member of a mutual holding company, Litchfield Bancorp has a deeper reservoir of capital from which it can make or participate in loans, said Paul McLaughlin Jr., the bank’s senior vice president and chief operating officer.

“Our corporate structure gives us more lending power and enables us to take on larger loans than a bank of our size would normally be willing to handle,” McLaughlin said.

“We basically have the horsepower of three banks instead of just one,” Villanova added

The bank’s new commercial lending team consists of McLaughlin; Robert Teittinen, senior vice president and chief loan officer; Margret Warner, vice president, commercial loan officer and director of business services; and Mckenzie Kelly, assistant vice president, commercial lender.

The new team will target small to medium-sized businesses throughout the bank’s retail footprint, including small manufacturers and retailers, service companies, developers, attorneys, CPA firms, doctor’s offices and health care facilities.

“I think we’ve put together a very capable and professional team that has a great deal of experience in the commercial arena,” said Teittinen. “This is a group that will be very responsive.”

The bank decided to put together a new and deeper commercial lending team about two months ago in the wake of two unrelated events, Villanova said. First, the retirement of a veteran executive put the bank in a position to add a new employee at the assistant vice president level, which resulted in Kelly joining the team.

The second event that convinced the bank’s board that the time was right to expand and strengthen its commercial lending operation was the relocation of the bank’s Watertown branch from Oakville to a larger facility on Straits Turnpike, which also happens to be a prime commercial location.

“We saw this as a great opportunity, a chance to get out into the communities we serve and make some commercial loans,” Villanova said. “Between the branch relocation in Watertown, the new personnel we brought in, the strong array of commercial deposit products we can offer and the fact that we already had a strong, capable commercial lending team in place, we felt we were well-positioned to get out there and compete for commercial business with even the largest commercial banks.”

The bank’s intent to grow its commercial loan portfolio has already begun to pay dividends. Four years ago, midway through the 2009 financial year, the bank’s commercial loan portfolio stood at $29 million, or about 24 percent of its total loan portfolio of $121 million.

Through June 30 of this year, midway through the current financial year, the commercial loan portfolio had grown by 75 percent to $42 million. Commercial loans are now 31 percent of the bank’s $136 million loan portfolio.

“I’d say we’re heading in the right direction,” Villanova said.

For more information or to speak with a member of the LBC Commercial Banking Group, visit litchfieldbancorp.com or call 860-567-9401.

Litchfield Bancorp is a mutual savings bank with assets of $210 million offering full service offices in Lakeville, Litchfield, Torrington, Watertown and Washington.

Member FDIC  Equal Housing Lender

~ LitchfieldBancorp.com ~
End
Source:Litchfield Bancorp
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Tags:Banking, Commercial, Litchfield, Lending, Small Business
Industry:Banking, Loans
Location:Litchfield - Connecticut - United States
Subject:Services
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