John Adams

When New York Community Bank’s John Adams spoke about expansion last year, he couldn’t have predicted how other banks’ busts would lead to NYCB’s current boom. Ailing institutions during the unfolding financial crisis meant assets available on the cheap — and a community bank leapfrogging the competition to become an even bigger player across numerous sectors.

Last December, NYCB closed its planned acquisition of Michigan-based Flagstar, adding an additional $25.8 billion in assets and $17.2 billion in loans, and boosting commercial real estate lending by $3.6 billion. The institution instantly became a top 25 bank in terms of total assets, with multiple national lines of business and a multistate retail footprint. 

That was just the start. When contagion fears caused crypto-compromised Signature Bank to fold in early March, NYCB was able to pick up $38.4 billion in traditional assets in what amounted to a Fed fire sale, strengthening the bank’s own balance sheet and making investors ecstatic (the stock shot up more than 30 percent the day after close). 

Adams and leadership already saw momentum heading into 2023 due to the Flagstar acquisition. Last year was a record on many fronts, including net income available to common stockholders of $603 million, and a strengthening of NYCB’s shift to a more commercial banking model. With the Signature pickups, NYCB becomes a full-service commercial bank with a loan-to-deposit ratio of 88 percent.

These expansions boost Adams’ earlier plans to move into the Sun Belt and diversify the multifamily portfolio. Ideally, by picking up where Signature, a significant force in apartment and affordable housing lending in New York, left off by servicing Signature’s multifamily loans, NYCB can continue to turn missteps into megadeals. —P.S.