NEW YORK - Executives of Sterling Bancorp still like to razz Louis J. Cappelli about how he ended up chairman and chief executive of the company.
When he was 17 and strapped for cash, Mr. Cappelli answered an ad in The New York Times for a mailroom "messenger/office boy" at Standard Financial Corp., forerunner of Sterling Bancorp.
"My only objective at the time was to get a job and support myself and attend City College at night," said Mr. Cappelli, a tall, slender man who now has an office overlooking Madison Avenue. "I had no idea that banking would be my career."
Mr. Cappelli, 63, is now chairman and chief executive officer of $706.6 million-asset Sterling Bancorp, parent of Sterling National Bank and Trust Co.
Since becoming chairman in June 1992, the banking veteran has pushed through a series of changes that have revived the company.
One move has been to build up the 65-year-old company. Ten months ago, Sterling opened a mortgage company in Richmond, Va., which it is expanding.
In addition, Sterling is expanding its leasing activities, which had been in the doldrums. "It's doing very well now, and we've had an 30% increase in our portfolio over the last three months," said Mr. Cappelli.
Employees have been retrained to sell products rather than process orders, and they have been given more credit authority. The company is also offering more products than ever before, including business and consumer loans, leasing, mortgage lending, and factoring.
Sterling was even involved in providing credit to save the New York Daily News, which filed for bankruptcy reorganization.
"We are hungry," said Mr. Cappelli. "In fact," he claims, "there are no banks of our size that do the wide range of banking and lending and financial services activities that Sterling does."
A steady economy, coupled with management's recent efforts, have helped Sterling shake off a $4.7 million loss in 1991. Last year, Sterling earned $4 million, up 27% from the prior year. It has also trimmed expenses and reduced problem loans over the years. Last year troubled loans fell to a mere 0.13% of total assets.
The company still has a ways to go, however, in the earnings department. It returned 0.61% on average assets for the year and 7.52% on equity.
Dressed in a pinstriped suit, Mr. Cappelli sits behind his desk in a comfortable, but not elaborate, office with wall-to-wall carpeting. That's how Mr. Cappelli likes it, nothing flashy but a good place to conduct nuts- and-bolts banking.
Mr. Cappelli was born in the South Bronx in 1931. His father and mother immigrated to the United States from Italy in the early 1900s. His father delivered ice and coal at that time.
In 1949, Mr. Cappelli graduated from high school, but jobs weren't easy to find so he ended up in the mailroom at Standard Financial. Two years later he was shipped from the mailroom to the Army during the Korean conflict. When he returned home in 1953, Mr. Cappelli had no intention of working at Standard Financial, but he decided to come back and study accounting at New York's City College on the GI Bill.
He returned to Sterling as a clerk and later worked as an auditor for the controller of the company. As the company began to acquire other finance companies, Mr. Cappelli's services were more in demand.
"Serving as auditor of the company at one time was one of the best jobs for preparing me for my banking career," Mr. Cappelli said. "It gave me the opportunity to go out and examine the books of people we loaned money to. It exposes you to their business, premises, staff, and you see how they operates."
Over the years, Mr. Cappelli worked in a number of positions until he was named president in 1992. He admits that he once was passed over for a promotion and was so miffed that he planned to quit.
He's glad he stayed.
"I find banking to be exciting," he said. "There is no greater joy than to lend money to young entrepreneurs to help them start out and (then watch them) become successful."
John C. Millman, president and chief executive of Sterling National Bank and Trust of New York said Sterling is like Mr. Cappelli's family because he grew up in the company.
"His energy has been devoted to growing the company," said Mr. Millman, who has known Mr. Cappelli for about 20 years. "Everything he does - whether it's business, personal, or community activities - represents Sterling in one way or another."
Even competitors have taken note of Sterling and Mr. Cappelli.
"He is a formidable ... competitor and one I respect," said Peter Venitis, president and chief executive officer of Atlantic Bank of New York.
"He has put Sterling on the right track, and his operating results prove himself," added Jake Berman, president of Commercial Bank of New York.
Mr. Cappelli expects Sterling to continue to improve going forward.
"My goal is to continue our upward trend," he said. "We can do it with our new sales team concept in place, and as we continue to provide our customers with a variety of products."
As for his career?
I feel I made the right career choice as a banker," Mr. Cappelli said. "I plan to stay with Sterling for a long time."
