A New York bank that has
Dime Community Bancshares, based on Long Island in Hauppauge, plans to open a branch in Lakewood, New Jersey, early next year. Dime was founded in 1864, during the Civil War, and though the planned Lakewood location would be the $14.1 billion-asset company's first office outside of New York's boundaries, it likely won't be the last.
CEO Stuart Lubow referred to Lakewood as a "jumping-off point." He told American Banker that Dime expects to open additional branches north of Lakewood, which sits in the central part of the state, Ocean County. Ultimately, Dime's ambition is to become more of a regional player, raising its profile in Westchester County and Upstate New York, as well as New Jersey.
"I can see us continuing our growth within the New Jersey marketplace and also enhancing our [presence] in Westchester and the lower Hudson Valley," Lubow said Monday.
Dime traces its roots to Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood. Its banking subsidiary, Dime Community Bank, was founded as a mutual savings bank to serve Brooklyn's immigrant population.
In the decades leading up to the turn of the 21st Century, Dime thrived as a multifamily lender. But over the past 10 years, the company has been engaged in a determined effort to refashion itself into a commercial lender that serves small and mid-size businesses.
The transformation has been accelerated by Dime's recent hiring spree, which has seen it establish several new commercial-lending verticals, including
Dime's increased employee count has also sparked substantial growth in deposits, which increased 9% to $11.5 billion in the two years ending March 31.
"Those teams we brought on have performed exceedingly well," Lubow said. "Our pipelines are very strong, both on the deposit and loan side."
Dime's economic outlook is "cautiously optimistic," Lubow said. "There' a lot of things going on. I think generally businesses are adapting to any changes and are relatively [hopeful]."
In a June 17 report, Kroll Bond Rating Agency upgraded its ratings outlook for Dime from stable to positive, pointing to the company's credit quality and recent deposit growth. "Altogether, given the anticipated core deposit growth, Dime is expected to reflect an enhanced funding and liquidity profile that will position it well to execute its strategic shift in the loan portfolio," Kroll stated.
Dime still maintains a significant portfolio of multifamily loans, but Kroll argued that the quality of its tenant mix, including a sizable component in the medical field, offers hope Dime's book can outperform the broader sector, which continues to
For its part, Dime is focused on getting its New Jersey expansion off to a strong start in Lakewood, according to Lubow, who has
"Right now, our focus is going to be on getting Lakewood open and the New Jersey market. But if opportunities arise, we're certainly going to take advantage of them," he said.
Lubow, who was raised near Lakewood and worked in the region as an executive prior to joining Dime in 2017, said the market has undergone a marked change over the past decade, as its commercial business base has expanded.
"There's more commercial business that's moved into the suburban environment," Lubow said. "Where before, there was basically New York City and the immediate surroundings as the hub for commercial businesses, [now] they've really moved and spread out. … It's diversified the opportunities in suburban markets."
Lakewood's population totaled 141,000 in 2024, up 5% from 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
