If it seems like Brooklyn has a dizzying number of bank brands, that’s because it does: 39 of them, according to our count, with a total of 350 branches. By far the largest presence is JPMorgan Chase, which currently has 77 branches across the borough, more than twice the scale of Capital One and TD Bank, which cluster in the No. 2 and 3 spots.
While Chase rules supreme, its Brooklyn footprint has actually shrunk slightly in recent years, down from 85 branches a decade ago, as branches were consolidated after acquisitions to avoid neighborhood overlap. However, Chase’s number is about to climb again with two new Brooklyn branches under construction and expected to open this year, according to a bank spokesperson. One of them will be in a prominent location in booming Williamsburg, at 180 Bedford Ave.
Even if Chase’s branch count has been fairly stable, other banking companies have grown significantly, including TD Bank and Investors Bank, both of which have their U.S. headquarters in suburban New Jersey. TD in particular has picked up the pace of its small-business lending. “New York is one of those areas where we’re seeing the most robust growth. We’ve opened a number of branches in New York City and want to grow in that market,” Tom Pretty, TD’s head of SBA lending, told Crain’s New York Business.
Of the top ten brands in Brooklyn, two are foreign-owned: TD is a subsidiary of Canada’s Toronto-Dominion Bank, while Santander is owned by the Spanish multinational company of the same name. One of the top ten, Dime Community Bank, is Brooklyn-based, with its main offices downtown.
The top ten brands all have double-digit numbers of branches, but many banks aren’t chains at all, at least in their Brooklyn representation. Twelve banks have only one branch in the borough, including Cross County Savings Bank in Williamsburg. Launched in 1888 as Bushwick Savings & Loan, the still-diminutive company now has six branches in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx.
Our information is based on the latest available reports from the FDIC. If you see any errors or omissions on our list, please let us know at editor@thebridgebk.com and we’ll make a prompt update.