Wilmington Trust Corp. is looking to broaden its commercial banking network in the mid-Atlantic region, but its chairman and chief executive, Ted Cecala, said that it would do so organically, not through acquisitions.
Speaking Tuesday at the Lehman Brothers Fifth Annual Financial Services Conference in New York, Mr. Cecala said that the $11 billion-asset company would consider adding commercial banking offices in Baltimore, where it now has two, and is eyeing expansion into the Washington-Northern Virginia market as well as into western and central New Jersey.
The Wilmington, Del., company, which is well known for its wealth management business, has retail banking offices only in its home state, but it offers commercial banking through offices in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland.
Mr. Cecala said his company competes in banking by concentrating on privately held or closely owned businesses with up to $250 million in sales. "We're not trying to be all things to all people," he said.
Wilmington Trust has not made a bank acquisition since 1992, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., but it has bought wealth management firms. In July, it bought Bingham Legg Advisers LLC in Boston, a wealth manager that specializes in tax-sensitive investment strategies for high-net-worth individuals and families.
