Howard Bluver, the chief executive of Suffolk Bancorp (SUBK), wasted little time in delivering on his promise to diversify its balance sheet.
The $1.6 billion-asset company has opened a new loan production office in Melville, N.Y., and formed two new lending teams, Suffolk said Tuesday.
Suffolk has hired John Pollock as a senior vice president and as team leader for one group while Bob Grady, who has been with Suffolk for seven years, will head the second team.
“I am extremely pleased to have leaders of John’s and Bob’s caliber heading up our Melville loan production office and I am confident that their teams of experienced and talented lenders will produce strong results for the bank as we move forward in building a diverse, high quality loan portfolio in our western expansion,” Michael Orsino, the chief lending officer at Suffolk, said in a news release.
Suffolk
When Suffolk completed the loan sale and capital raise, it pledged to reposition its balance sheet. This includes deploying cash into higher-yielding loans and other interest-earning assets, Bluver said in the release.
Bluver had previously said that the company would look at expanding its lending efforts beyond its traditional foothold in eastern Suffolk County, into other parts of the county and Nassau County. He also sought to make more commercial loans.
The new loan office provides “direct access to what we view as perfectly matched market opportunities in western Suffolk and eastern Nassau counties, and we are excited to be taking this step so quickly,” Bluver said in a news release Tuesday.