The Cherry Hill-based bank expects to open branches in Princeton Township, East Windsor and West Windsor this year.
By: George Frey
Commerce Bank recently announced plans to open several branches in the Princeton area over the next several years and a total of more than 30 branches in New Jersey while other area banks have announced layoffs.
The Cherry Hill-based bank, and largest bank in New Jersey which also operates in Pennsylvania, Delaware and New York said it would open three branches including East and West Windsor, and also Princeton Township in 2002. The bank has said it has plans for opening further branches in Mercer County in 2003 including in Princeton Borough.
"We need a lot more locations in the Princeton area," said the bank’s chairman and CEO, Vernon Hill, who founded the bank in 1973. "In a year or two or three we should have five or six or seven new sites in the area. We would love to have a branch in Princeton Borough. We’d absolutely love to. We need one on Route 1, too."
Branches of the bank in the area include Pennington, Ewing and three locations in Hamilton. Other central New Jersey locations include East Brunswick and Somerville.
Mr. Hill said the bank’s success stems from the non-typical banking model stressing service and convenience, but not the highest rates. The strategy continues to produce significant growth in low-cost core deposits in an industry where little or no deposit growth remains the norm, the company said.
"Where other banks have cut costs, we’ve looked at it another way and based our bank on that model. We knew when we opened we would have to do something different than the other banks which were out there. That model has just evolved," Mr. Hill said.
"We always try to be the community bank with our staff and our participation in the neighborhood. Every location is very important to us."
Mr. Hill, whose background was in the fast food business as a franchisee of Burger King, said that Commerce is run in that sort of standardized almost wholesale simplicity format but still focuses on the individual consumer. Mr. Hill also mentioned the Starbucks chain and also Home Depot as businesses which operate similarly to Commerce.
In total the bank has plans to open about 45 branches for the year, and expects to hire about 8,000 employees over the next five years. It is the region’s fastest growing independent financial services retailer, with more than $11 billion in assets and a network of 185 branches.
The company reported record earnings and an increase of deposits, assets and loans for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2001. The bank’s continued success is reflected in a $2.8 billion increase of total deposits over the total for 2000 of $7.4 billion. The total at the end of the fourth quarter was $10.1 billion, an increase of 38 percent. More than $800 million of the $2.8 billion were generated in the fourth quarter of last year, the company said.
The bank has retained its position as the most active underwriter of short-term municipal bonds and notes in New Jersey. The bank received the highest designation for the sixth straight year through statistics compiled through Securities Data Inc. of Newark. Commerce also announced it was ranked in the top 10 for trustee banks by dollar volume for 2001 by The Bond Buyer magazine. It was the first time the magazine had included Commerce in its quarterly rankings. The Bond Buyer provides coverage of tax exempt bonds for professionals in the financial industry.