BUFFALO, N.Y — First Niagara Financial Group (NASDAQ: FNFG) on Thursday announced plans to combine all of its consumer-banking businesses into one unit.
Effective immediately, the company’s Retail Banking and Consumer Finance groups will be merged into one Consumer Financial Services division, led by Mark Rendulic, executive vice president, First Niagara said in a news release.
“Consolidating our Retail Banking and Consumer Finance businesses will enable us to deliver greater value to our customers, through closer team collaboration, and will ultimately drive greater shareholder value, Gary M. Crosby, president and CEO of First Niagara, said in the release.
The newly combined Consumer Financial Services group will be comprised of the company’s retail, wealth management, consumer direct lending, and residential mortgage businesses.
“Customers want a seamless and personalized banking experience, regardless of the channel they use or the solutions they are seeking. Bringing these already strong teams together into one group puts the delivery of our consumer offerings in one place and enables us to more seamlessly serve our customers,” Rendulic said in the release.
As part of this business consolidation, First Niagara also announced that Andrew Fornarola, executive vice president, Consumer Finance, will be leaving the banking company.
Buffalo–based First Niagara, through its wholly owned subsidiary, First Niagara Bank, NA., is a multi-state bank with about 410 branches, $39 billion in assets, $27 billion in deposits, and about 5,900 employees across New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.
First Niagara is the fourth largest bank in the 16-county Central New York market ranked by deposit market share.
Contact Rombel at arombel@cnybj.com