Eager to boost its retail presence in the Middle Atlantic region, M&T Bank Corp. of Buffalo is planning to open a branch this June in one of Maryland’s most frequented locations: the Southwest Airlines terminal at Baltimore/Washington International Airport.
Woody Collins, the president of M&T’s Middle Atlantic region, said that 10 million passengers a year pass through the terminal. Most are from Maryland or neighboring states, but some might also be customers from upstate New York who are visiting or passing through the Baltimore-Washington area.
“They may need to make a deposit or get travelers checks, things they forgot to do before, while in a rush to take off on a trip,” Mr. Collins said.
The $57 billion-asset M&T Bank already has 18 stand-alone automated teller machines in the Baltimore airport (and one in the Buffalo airport).
But it also is hoping to attract new customers with its airport branch. It is targeting passengers, the retailers that operate in the airport, and the more than 4,000 people who work there, Mr. Collins said. If the branch succeeds, he added, M&T hopes to open branches in other airports or in other high-traffic areas such as commuter train stations or park-and-ride lots.
A handful of U.S. banks have airport branches. The $219 billion-asset U.S. Bancorp in Minneapolis has branches in the airports in St. Louis and Portland, Ore.; the $56 billion-asset Marshall & Ilsley Corp. has one in its home city of Milwaukee; and the $10 billion-asset Whitney Holding Corp. in New Orleans has one at the airport there.
In the Middle Atlantic region, the $14 billion-asset Chevy Chase Bank in McLean, Va., has had branches at Reagan National Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport, both in Northern Virginia, since 2004.
Last year M&T began a multiyear initiative to open a half-dozen branches a year in its Middle Atlantic markets, some focused on retail banking, others geared toward small businesses.
M&T entered the Baltimore-Washington area in April 2003 when its parent bought the $15 billion-asset Allfirst Bank in Baltimore, which had catered to large businesses. The purchase gave M&T the No. 2 market share in Maryland, with about 10.4% of the state’s deposits, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. It has since slipped to No. 3, behind surging Chevy Chase, and had less than an 8% share last June 30 in the FDIC data.
Chevy Chase added roughly $500 million of deposits in Virginia from June 2004 to June 2006, though it was unclear how much the airport branches contributed to that growth. Calls to Chevy Chase executives were not returned.
U.S. Bancorp spokesman Steve Dale said that such branches are particularly convenient for airport employees, who do not have time during their lunch hour to get to bank branches off site.
Retail banking consultant Dave Martin questioned whether such offices would be as viable as in-store branches. Though the latter attract the employees of their hosts, most people who use in-store branches are patrons of the host stores who do their banking while they shop. They may have more time to use an in-store branch than they would one in an airport, he said. Mr. Martin is an executive vice president and the chief training consultant at NCBS, a subsidiary of SunTrust Banks Inc. that consults on retail banking.
Still, “for the billboard effect alone, the marketing value of a bank branch at an airport could be worth it — depending on the cost of renting space there,” Mr. Martin said. Some banks may be able to write off the expense in their marketing budgets.
M&T’s Mr. Collins agreed that the branch at Baltimore/Washington International should attract lots of attention — it will be across from the security checkpoint line so that passengers will probably have M&T’s large sign in sight for long periods.
M&T’s space lease for the airport branch is comparable in cost to commercial leases elsewhere in that market, Mr. Collins added.
