Bank on it
Michael Orsino was busy unpacking personal effects and cartons of books in his new Orangeburg office. The president of KeyBank’s Capital District region has been tapped to become president of Key’s newly created Hudson Valley/Metro New York district. Orsino’s change of scenery started when KeyBank acquired Union State Bank for $575 million in July.
“I went to college for accounting,” said Orsino, who has spent nearly two decades with Key, the 16th-largest financial institution in the country. “It was a friend who steered me to the banking profession.”
Key’s current district headquarters will close in Newburgh to relocate to Poughkeepsie’s Oakwood Commons in mid-2008, where Reginald Fuller will act as market president for the Hudson Valley and report directly to Orsino; Orsino will work out of Orangeburg, where Union State Bank’s corporate headquarters will now become KeyBank’s Hudson Valley/Metro New York home. The USB purchase has doubled Key’s presence the lower mid-Hudson and Westchester County regions, where its 31 branches added to Key’s will bring Key’s total to 63.
The buyout did not come without pain for some USB employees. Approximately 180 positions were cut, far more than the number USB’s former Chairman and CEO Thomas Hales predicted when he announced the sale in July. Hales, who recently underwent lung transplant surgery, was not available for comment. He will continue on as a KeyBank advisor until June 30, according to Therese Myers, vice president for public relations for KeyBank.
“We had overlap in some departments,” said Orsino of the 180 layoffs. “And unfortunately, the number was greater than we anticipated.” Orsino said Key has worked to help former USB personnel transition to other banks. “Our USB branch personnel were not affected by this,” said Orsino. “Everyone in the branches has stayed on with us, and we’re very happy about that.”
Those branches are in the process of some heavy-duty cross-training, learning Key’s products and services and acclimating themselves to its business model. The goal is for all 420 employees to be on the same page once Key’s logo officially replaces USB’s during the Martin Luther King holiday weekend, January 19-21.
Orsino said traditional banking – the kind that he experienced as a boy accompanying his father – is a thing of the past, “and that’s entirely a result of the Internet and electronic age. Most people coming into branches today are looking for special services: wealth management, risk management, small and commercial business loans … More than 70 per cent of our banking is now done electronically. ”
Orsino said the acquisition will enable Key to offer more products and services to current USB clients, thanks to the size and scope of the bank’s reach in the national marketplace.
Although Key had enjoyed five years of record earnings, 2007 found the retail bank posting a loss of up to 5 cents in its fourth quarter and the subsequent elimination of more than 1,000 jobs nationwide. According to a recent Associated Press report, Key expects to report net loan charge-offs of at least $110 million, fixed-income losses of approximately $55million to $65 million and layoff expenses of $26 million for the fourth quarter of 2007.
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