NYCB President: Atlantic Bank Will Continue to Play a Major Role in the Greek Community"

NYCB President and CEO Joseph Ficalora vowed to retain the ‘Greek character’ of Atlantic Bank, a subsidiary of NYCB, in an exclusive interview with Greek Reporter from the Capital Link Forum in New York last week.

Speaking to Anastasios Papapostolou, Ficalora noted that since its establishment in the 1920s, Atlantic Bank has always been a Greek-American orientated institution.

“We have no intention of lessening our involvement in the Greek community. And where we can, we take the opportunity to increase our involvement,” said the NYCB chief executive.

Atlantic Bank was acquired from the National Bank of Greece by NYCB on April 28, 2006. It now has 18 full-service branches in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Westchester, and Nassau County.

Watch the full interview:

Its customers can also bank at any of the 250 NYCB branches across the US.

But as Ficalora notes the “Atlantic Bank is not just about where it is, it’s who it is. It has always been a Greek-oriented bank and it will continue to be.”

The NYCB President stressed that the board is made up of people that are involved in the Greek-American community; “They are leaders of the community and recognised by the community.”

“We have decided that we would like to maintain the identity of the institution that we acquire. Atlantic Bank is more unique than other banks we acquired in that it truly has an affiliation with the Greek community,” Ficalora says.

Atlantic Bank President Nancy Papaioannou says that without NYCB, Atlantic Βank would not be in the strong position it is today.

“The acquisition by NYCB gave the opportunity to use its platforms and its network to establish its presence throughout America,” she says.

“If Atlantic Bank stayed with National Bank of Greece it would not be able to survive due to the crisis in Greece,” Papaioannou notes.

With its flagship branch at 405 Park Ave. in New York, Atlantic Bank is one of the landmark institutions that have lasted almost a century and still serve as a leader in the Greek American community.