The president and chief executive of New York Bancorp's subsidiary bank is resigning just one month after the holding company completed an on- again, off-again acquisition.
Gerald E. Lundgren, CEO and president of Home Federal Savings Bank as well as executive vice president of the holding company, is leaving to head an investment advisory firm in Huntington, N.Y., on Long Island.
Mr. Lundgren, who had worked for the company for 11 years, has agreed to serve as a consultant to it on investment issues.
The holding company's president and CEO, Michael A. McManus Jr., will take over Mr. Lundgren's positions at Home Federal. He is currently its vice chairman.
Senior vice president Stan I. Cohen was appointed to fill Mr. Lundgren's seats on the boards of the holding company and Home Federal.
New York Bancorp completed its acquisition of $750 million-asset Hamilton Bancorp in late January. The stock deal had nearly fallen apart after New York Bancorp's stock price fell below the cutoff level of $19.69; to rescue the deal, the offer was raised.
Mr. Lundgren said his resignation was not linked to any problems with the $2.6 billion-asset company.
"I'm going to start off my own company," he said. "I've had a wonderful experience here at the bank, and now I'm going to do my own thing."
Observers also expressed doubt that there was any link between the merger and the resignation, noting that Mr. Lundgren was not replaced by any former Hamilton officials, many of whom have left the new company.
It was redundant, observers said, to have separate corporate and bank presidents in a one-bank holding company. Also, they said, the merger could have simply given Mr. Lundgren an opportunity to tackle a new venture.
"It hasn't set off a lot of alarm bells with me," said Jeffrey Cohn, bank analyst with H.C. Wainwright. "There's nothing ... that I read into it. Maybe it made more sense for this to happen after the deal was closed than before, so there could be an easier transition."
