Download the free NYSE magazine iPad app

CompanyStats

New York Community Bancorp
  • HQ: Westbury, NY
  • 2008 Revenues: $691 million
  • Employees: 2,699
  • Global: Does not operate outside the U.S.
  • Fortune 500: N.A.

CEOExtra

Rather than acquiring branches that reach from coast to coast, New York Community Bancorp, Inc. CEO Joseph R. Ficalora, a native New Yorker, finds investing success in his own backyard. According to Ficalora, beginning in 2000, the bank holding company for New York Community Bank (a savings bank) and New York Commercial Bank has grown through a series of mergers and acquisitions that target the densely populated areas of metro New York and central and northern New Jersey. By operating the banks under divisional names local to each county or region — Queens County Savings Bank, for instance, has 34 locations across the borough; while customers in New Jersey bank at Garden State Community Bank — the company says it helps foster a sense of community and more personal customer service.

MoreCEOViews

Terry J. Lundgren Terry J. Lundgren

Macy’s

The retail giant stays aggressive to thrive in tough times.

Abhi Talwalkar Abhi Talwalkar

LSI

“Play offense” with marketing efforts and new products to grow business.

Stephen Golsby Stephen Golsby

Mead Johnson Nutrition

Concentrate on brand loyalty to keep consumers happy.

Joseph R. Ficalora

PrintPrint E-mailE-mail |

Joseph R. Ficalora

New York Community Bancorp

Why did your company decline TARP funds?

According to Joseph R. Ficalora, chairman, president and CEO of New York Community Bancorp, Inc. (NYCB), the company’s application for TARP funds received Fed approval last winter, but the board ultimately declined the opportunity. Ficalora cites two reasons for that decision. First, he says, it had originally appeared that TARP funds could be used to mitigate some of the risk incurred when viable banks acquire troubled institutions. But when the initial vision of how such funds could be used began to change, the CEO took note. “It became clear that it would not be acceptable to the government for a bank to buy another bank with TARP funds,” says the chief of the multibank holding company (assets: $32.4 billion) based in Westbury, N.Y. With a business model built on acquisitions — NYCB added more than 150 branches between 2000 and 2007, for a total of 214 today — Ficalora says he couldn’t agree to that restriction.

“As the uses of TARP funds were being re-envisioned, it became increasingly apparent that we were not an appropriate candidate.”

Second, it appeared that the government would require institutions that accepted TARP funds to restructure their loan portfolios to favor one- to four-family loans. NYCB is a leading producer of multi-family mortgage loans in New York City’s rent-regulated real estate market and holds very few such loans. “As the uses of TARP funds were being re-envisioned, ” Ficalora says, “it became increasingly apparent that we were not an appropriate candidate.”