Suffolk in N.Y. Names New Credit, Lending Officers

Suffolk Bancorp in Riverhead, N.Y., has hired a New York banking veteran as chief lending officer and picked a chief credit officer.

Michael R. Orsino was named chief lending officer for Suffolk County National Bank. He succeeds Karen A. Hamilton, who was promoted to chief credit officer. Suffolk did not have a chief credit officer before.

Orsino spent more than 20 years at Key Bank where he held various leadership roles including president of the Long Island, capital region and Hudson Valley/metro New York districts.

Hamilton will focus on reducing nonperforming loans, pursuing workouts and ensuring a quality loan portfolio, Howard Bluver, president and chief executive, said in a news release Tuesday. She also will oversee mortgage origination and residential finance and will continue to be an executive vice president of both the bank and holding company.

Within the last few months, the $1.5 billion-asset company has added Bluver and named Brian K. Finneran as chief financial officer.

Suffolk reported at the end of January that its fourth-quarter earnings fell 62%, from a year earlier, to $1.2 million. It lost $76,000 for 2011, compared with a profit of $6.3 million in 2010.

Last year the company had to delay reporting some of its quarterly results. It restated its loss for the first quarter of 2011 and results for two quarters in 2010. Suffolk also replaced its outside auditing firm.