Pathfinder Bank’s Syracuse office becomes full-service retail branch

SYRACUSE — The downtown Syracuse branch of Oswego–based Pathfinder Bank has expanded from a limited-service business banking office to a full-service retail branch.

The change took effect Jan. 1, Cassandra Gehrig, marketing communications specialist for Pathfinder Bank, said in an email response to a CNYBJ inquiry. 

The branch, which first opened in September 2014, is located in the Pike Block building at 109 West Fayette St. in Syracuse. 

The New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) approved the branch application for Pathfinder, a state-chartered bank, Maria Vullo, financial services superintendent, said in a Dec. 23 news release. 

“Pathfinder Bank is very pleased with the Department of Financial Services’ approval of our application to expand to a full-service office in order to serve the Syracuse market to our fullest capabilities, delivering our locally trusted, community-based banking model,” Thomas Schneider, president and CEO of Pathfinder Bank, said in the DFS news release.

A full-service branch office includes any of the “usual business of banking activities” that is offered at the head office of a bank, Richard Loconte, DFS executive deputy superintendent for communications and strategy, said in an email to CNYBJ. 

Those services include receiving deposits or lending money to the general public, he added. 

When the branch opened, it was only able to provide business loans and accept business deposits, according to Gehrig. At the time, the bank wasn’t “actively seeking” retail customer deposits or loans from the public.

As time went on, Pathfinder started to notice “increased demand” for retail banking services at the downtown Syracuse location, citing the “growth in population” in the downtown area.

Pathfinder then decided to apply to DFS to offer retail banking services to consumers at the downtown Syracuse office.

Pathfinder Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of Pathfinder Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: PBHC), has nine full-service branches located in Oswego and Onondaga counties.

Pathfinder Bank ranks second in deposit market share in Oswego County with a 24 percent share of all deposits, according to the latest FDIC data. However, it has the most branch offices in the county with seven.

Pathfinder Bancorp’s net income totaled $2.3 million in the first three quarters of 2016, up from $2 million for the first nine months of 2015. Earnings per share for the first nine months of 2016 totaled 55 cents, compared to 49 cents in the comparable period of 2015.