It can be easy for companies, especially banks, to give short shrift to midsized companies: entrepreneurs have the excitement of the new, large companies have solidity. But to TD Bank, the middle market in New York City offers immense promise, and the ability to complete its core mission: to enrich the lives of its customers and communities.
Defining that middle market is a matter of both revenue and sophistication.
“Technically, we define middle market in terms of revenue—$50 million and up. However, a number of factors within that label could determine who is best to serve that company and customer. We’ve been very successful in this sector, which crosses many different industries,” said Emily Stoddard, senior vice president of Middle Market Banking for the New York Metropolitan area. “We have a tremendous opportunity for growth and for helping our customers.”
The middle market also can be defined as a stage in a company’s maturation, adds Peter Meyer, New York City Market president, Commercial Banking, who handles the commercial activities for the five boroughs. Once a company has achieved $50 million in revenue or so, it is beyond the entrepreneur stage, and is looking to strategize for the future.
“They’re sophisticated but need a banker who can help them reach where they want to go,” Meyer said, acknowledging that there also are $20 million companies that are exceptionally sophisticated, and $100 million companies that are less so. “We have a great opportunity to fill that niche because of how we treat our customers holistically, who we are in the community, and how we’ve grown.”
TD does not silo its lines of business, a major difference compared to other commercial banks. This allows the bank to bring in experts as needed to assist clients depending on their stages in the business cycle and strategies for the future. Instead, the bank focuses on matching the right adviser and resources with the company, depending on its needs.
The bank works with companies over a wide swath of industries including food and beverage, professional services, marine transportation, cooperatives, and manufacturers. Unlike other banks, TD does not have separate departments for different industries, though its teams’ expertise spans all aspects of banking and business.
“We have found that as long as we get to know our clients and understand the business and their growth needs, they’re actually not looking for specialists versus establishing a relationship,” Stoddard said.
The commercial real estate division assists in loans, all without the client needing to change its core adviser. A customer doesn’t move to another division—and another adviser—after hitting some bank-determined milestone. It isn’t unusual for the bank to take a business from early success through growth (including financing real estate acquisitions), the inevitable bumps along the way, succession planning or a sale, and beyond.
Understanding its clients’ needs and growth has been a core for Canadian-based TD Bank Group, which has been in New York City for 16 years. Today, the bank has grown to have 142 branches throughout the city’s five boroughs.
“Back then, we were primarily a traditional community bank, gathering deposits and lending money to the small business customer,” said Andrew Bregenzer, New York Metro regional president, overseeing all retail, consumer, commercial lending, and government banking activities in New York City, Northern New Jersey, and suburban New York (including Long Island, Westchester County, and the Lower Hudson Valley) markets. “Small business is an area for growth: small business, which ties us to our communities and bookends the regional bank, along with the Middle Market.”
Don’t forget, he adds, those small businesses have the potential to grow into middle market companies over time. And TD’s advantage is its one-bank model. The community relationship manager, small business lender, and middle market lender work together with retail partners and other teammates to serve the customer.
“We bring the entire team: We like to say, One TD. It’s a different way of looking at serving the customer, more flexible and fluid,” Bregenzer said. “At the end of the day, it’s about what the customer’s needs are. Being there for today, perhaps for a specific transaction such as a capital investment or acquisition, but also providing an effective relationship strategy with our clients so that we can help better prepare them for tomorrow is what makes us effective.”
The middle market customer often needs to make decisions and act on them quickly, and with all of the decision-making team located in New York, TD Bank is uniquely able to accommodate a speedy process, Bregenzer observed. And it has access to a network that permits it to extend its abilities to international services as well.
That has allowed the bank to grow and evolve alongside its customers. Now, the company extends from Canada through the U.S. Eastern seaboard with more than 1,200 branches in the U.S. Soon, it will move into a new headquarters at One Vanderbilt, taking some 200,000 square feet as one of the main tenants. But it still remains a community bank, even when its customers work internationally, Bregenzer said. The company has hired a business development officer to specifically focus on the LGBTQ community, and to other neighborhoods around the city.
“This is just another first step of many TD strategic initiatives to further integrate into our communities and transform how we do business. It’s important for us to have a purpose, and it’s much more than just lending money,” Bregenzer said.
The first key is literally when the customer walks in the door, said Alan Nossen, New York City market president, Retail Banking, responsible for the branch network throughout the city.
“The genesis of our business is at the store level. Often our customers become aware of TD Bank through our community engagement, in the field, in the schools, in areas where people congregate,” Nossen said. “Our purpose is to enrich the lives of our customers, our colleagues and our communities. TD is unique in that we integrate everything to one purpose.”
That commitment exemplifies the bank’s corporate culture: In 2010, TD Bank became the first North American bank to become carbon neutral. It sponsors financial literacy and education programs for both adults and children. Its Ready Commitment program is targeting donations of CDN $1 billion to programs that focus on financial security, improving the environment, empowering the community, and supporting equitable health outcomes. Staff have also become involved in Employee Business Resource Groups; for example, Stoddard is active in women’s leadership and mentoring programs both within the bank and in outside communities.
Nossen notes that the retail network makes TD convenient for its business clients’ employees. This is critical, as most middle market companies are privately owned, normally located close to where the business owners live.
“Middle market is so tied to our core principles on every level,” Meyer said. “We really feel this is the opportunity to make a difference and connect with our base in a more holistic way.”
With this continued level of focus on not just middle market but the entire Metro New York community, Bregenzer said, TD is well positioned to continue to grow in share and impact for many years to come.
Emily Stoddard
TD Bank
125 Park Ave, 23rd Fl
New York, NY 10017
646-981-4270
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