First Niagara to open mortgage center in Syracuse

SYRACUSE — First Niagara Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: FNFG) will open a new mortgage processing center in Syracuse next month.

Located at 333 W. Washington St., the center will create 25 new jobs, according to the Buffalo–based First Niagara. Mortgage originations at the banking company are up more than 66 percent over the past year.

The new employees will serve customers in Central and Eastern New York. First Niagara has about 500 employees and 49 branches in the region. The bank has existing mortgage processing centers in Buffalo and New Haven, Conn.

“We are excited to continue our growth in Central New York, create new jobs and join in downtown Syracuse’s Renaissance,” Market Executive David Kavney said in a news release. “With this new operation, we enhance our strategic focus on remaining a leading provider of mortgage loans to homeowners in the markets we serve, helping our neighbors and communities to do great things.”

First Niagara Bank has 430 branches, $36 billion in assets, and 6,000 employees in upstate New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.

First Niagara Bank is number four in the Syracuse metro area deposit market with 21 branches, more than $808 million in deposits, and a deposit market share of more than 7.5 percent, according to the latest statistics from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. First Niagara is also number four in the Utica–Rome market with nine branches, $405.9 million in deposits, and a market share of about 11 percent.

The bank is number two in the Binghamton market with 10 branches, $342.5 million in deposits, and a market share of 12.8 percent.

Contact Tampone at ktampone@cnybj.com