Portland, Maine-based TD Banknorth, whose Southington branch is shown above, recently opened two de novo branches in Connecticut and likely will expand further in the state.

TD Banknorth, the Portland, Maine-based institution that last year added 42 Connecticut branches to its roster with the acquisition of Mahwah, N.J.-based Hudson United Bank, is expanding further in the state with the recent openings of two de novo branches.

And this is not likely the end of the bank’s expansion in Connecticut.

“I think Connecticut is a strategically important state for Toronto-Dominion Bank, which is one of the most competitive retail banks in North America,” said John Carusone, president of the Bank Analysis Center in Hartford. “I would be surprised for them to conclude that they didn’t have some strategically important expansion in Connecticut.”

Toronto-based Toronto-Dominion Bank acquired TD Banknorth last year.

TD Banknorth has a history of expanding through acquisitions, according to John J. Patrick, president and chief executive officer of Banknorth Connecticut. Its acquisition last year of Hudson United doubled its size in Connecticut, and now the bank is looking to fill in any gaps.

“We’re looking at [new de novo branches],” Patrick said.

The bank earlier this month opened a branch at 212 Boston Post Road in Orange. It is the bank’s 35th branch in New Haven County. In October, the bank opened another branch in Hartford.

Eighteen months ago, the bank set out with a strategy in New Haven County and opened the first de novo branch in New Haven. During its previous successful run in Hartford County, it had enjoyed especially good growth in the commercial lending market. Since much of that business was coming from New Haven County, the bank decided that if it could establish a central office in New Haven, it could grow along the Interstate 91 and Interstate 95 corridors, Patrick said.

The subsequent acquisition of Hudson United gave the bank a greater presence in Hamden, and the bank since has seen success in the county. So several weeks ago, the bank doubled the size of the staff at its downtown New Haven branch.

“Because we have been successful in New Haven, we’ve actually doubled our space down there and added more professionals there,” Patrick said. “We saw some opportunity. That market has been good.”

Banknorth’s acquisition of Hudson United added 42 branches to the bank’s Connecticut portfolio. In addition to expanding its presence in New Haven County, it added 19 branches in Fairfield County.

Toronto-Dominion Bank now has about 5 percent of Connecticut’s market share, which makes it the sixth-largest bank in Connecticut. It is behind Bank of America and locally based banks such as Waterbury-based Webster Bank. It has a slightly larger percentage of the market share than its main competitor, the Royal Bank of Scotland – parent company of Providence, R.I.-based Citizens Bank – but that is probably not enough for the ambitious bank.

“I believe their work in Connecticut is not yet finished,” Carusone said. With 5 percent of the market share, the bank likely does not feel it has a sustainable competitive position, he added.

“Connecticut is a very competitive market,” allowed Patrick.

There are many new players, and the economy is fairly stagnant. The pie is not getting bigger, but the financial institutions vying for a piece of it are getting more numerous, Patrick said. That is good for businesses and consumers, but harder for banks. The trend has been reflected in banks’ earnings, Patrick said.

The next target for expansion could be Fairfield County. The bank has 22 offices there now, after the Hudson acquisition, but there are some gaps, Patrick said.

“Our intent is not to stay stagnant there,” he said.

TD Banknorth opened its Orange branch earlier this month with some fanfare.

“TD Banknorth is a community bank and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to [establish partnerships] with the residents and businesses of Orange,” Patrick said in a prepared statement. “We will work with individual, commercial, retail and municipal customers every day to achieve your financial goals.”

The TD Banknorth Charitable Foundation committed $5,000 to Bridges, a comprehensive mental health and addiction services provider for children, adolescents, adults and families, which has offices in Orange and surrounding communities.

“Today we begin a new era of community involvement between the town of Orange and TD Banknorth. We all need to work together to sustain our communities,” said Patrick.

TD Banknorth also recently announced a major consumer awareness campaign. Starting Dec. 11, TD Banknorth promotional agents began distributing combo cards to people who are out and about in the town of Orange. Each paper contains numbers that signify the combination to a vault. All those who receive the combinations are invited to visit the new Orange branch to see if their numbers open the vault. At least one winning combination will be handed out daily until Dec. 16. The grand prize will be a $1,000 cash award.