Andreas Kapetanopoulos
Connecticut Regional President, NBT Bank
Age: 55
Industry Experience: 27 years
As regional president for NBT Bank in Connecticut, Andreas Kapetanopoulos has found that prospective clients often ask the same three questions: Where is the bank based? What does NBT stand for? And where is your closest branch?
The Norwich, New York-based NBT Bank, which was once known as National Bank and Trust, entered the Connecticut market in the fall of 2019 when the bank hired Kapetanopoulos to lead the expansion and build a commercial banking team. While the pandemic delayed the expansion, NBT now has two retail branches in Glastonbury and West Hartford, where the bank also has its new Connecticut headquarters. The $11 billion-asset NBT Bank has branches in six other states: New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and Western Massachusetts.
Kapetanopoulos, who got his start in the industry as a bank examiner for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, has spent much of his career at Connecticut banks, including the former Farmington Bank and People’s United Bank.
Q: Why did you want to be part of NBT’s expansion into Connecticut?
A: When NBT reached out to me almost two years ago, two things really caught my attention. If you just take a look at NBT and their balance sheet, their financial positioning – how well-capitalized the bank is, how strong it is and how liquid – the bank has a lot of money to lend. That was one thing that really caught my attention. Today, [the Paycheck Protection Program] has changed that. The banking industry is full of deposits, but NBT has always been very liquid and will continue to be that way.
The second piece that caught my attention was the commitment that NBT had to expanding the franchise into New England. It started over 11 years ago in Burlington, Vermont, and has expanded steadily into New Hampshire and Maine, and Connecticut now is the most recent expansion point. This New England expansion is in the strategic plan of the bank, and it’s also outlined in the annual report. There is a real commitment there, and it’s a long-term focus.
Q: How has the expansion been going so far?
A: It’s been going great. On [June 16], we held two ribbon cuttings. One in Glastonbury for our new full-service branch with a drive-thru. We have a great team that we installed there. On the other side of the river in West Hartford, we had a ribbon cutting for our new regional headquarters, which includes our office plus a branch location there as well. This was a long time in the works. COVID delayed things a little bit. We’d like to have been open sooner, but that came out of left field and surprised everyone.
We wanted to start off in Central Connecticut and understanding the differences between east-of-the-river and west-of-the-river markets. We wanted to make sure that we were covering both markets when we came in here. And what was great about [the ceremonies] was we were able to show our financial commitment to the community. We gave away $20,000 to eight deserving organizations during the ribbon cuttings.
Q: What are some of the needs and opportunities in Connecticut?
A: In Central Connecticut over the past 2 to 2 1/2 years, there’s been some consolidation and disruption in the [banking industry]. We’re seeing small business owners who are looking to talk to bankers to build relationships with them. There are opportunities on both the commercial real estate and the commercial and industrial side.
On the commercial real estate side, there’s strong activity on new apartment construction, and there is some new home construction – not a lot – that we’re involved with. There’s activity with commercial warehouse space as well. That’s been pretty strong. On the commercial and industrial side, we’re seeing activity with small business owners in the manufacturing sectors, as well as in the service sector. We’ve got a good team of local people that we’ve brought in that have deep roots in Connecticut. They know the markets; we know the borrowers.
Q: What role will branches have in NBT’s expansion?
A: Remember back in 2000 when people were predicting the demise of the traditional brick-and-mortar branch? I think it’s proven that banking is a people business – a relationship business – and one of the questions borrowers always ask us is: Where’s your closest branch? That’s one of the top three questions they ask us every single time, and now we can tell them we have locations in Glastonbury and Hartford, and we’re looking to expand that footprint into Connecticut.
Q: Do you have a target for how many branches there will eventually be?
A: We don’t have an exact figure at this point, but we’re looking at it more from a geographic perspective. We want to expand outside of Central Connecticut to the Greater New Haven region in the near future.
Q: How did you find customers before the branches opened?
A: That strategy hasn’t changed. It’s great to have the branches here, plant the flag and have the visibility. But what we’ve really focused on is the deep network that I have and that all of our bankers on the team have. We’ve reached out to former customers, centers of influence, accountants, attorneys. There’s a lot of encouragement and willingness to meet with us and speak with us. I would call it almost a grassroots-level outreach.
Q: How can NBT differentiate itself in the Connecticut market?
A: Banking is a people business, and I think the key is having the right team. One of things I am proudest of with our expansion in Connecticut is the team that we built here. They have deep, deep experience in Connecticut. At certain points, we’ve all worked together at different banks, so we know each other very well. We’re focused on delivering excellent service for our customers and providing local decision-making as well.
The positive and strong reputation that we have – I think that precedes us and really gets that buy-in from the customer perspective. We’re looking forward to continuing to grow here and make an impact. We’re proud that we were able to convert a vacant branch in Glastonbury into now a vibrant functioning branch. We took some vacant office space in West Hartford and converted that into functioning office space. And we created new positions. I think we’ve had an economic impact in Central Connecticut by adding new jobs as well. Now we’re also lending money and having an impact, helping businesses grow in Central Connecticut and all of Connecticut.
Kapetanopoulos’ Five Favorite Things To Do at the Beach
- Paddleboarding
- Walking with his dog
- Running
- Tossing a football
- Relaxing while suntanning and reading
