Rochester Business Journal

HSBC Bank USA N.A. branches opened Monday as First Niagara Bank N.A., following a weekend transition after their acquisition was completed Friday.

“We pride ourselves on exceeding expectations and outperforming,” said John Koelmel, president and CEO of holding company First Niagara Financial Group Inc., in an interview with the Rochester Business Journal on Monday.

“The team’s clearly done that again, not only in preparation for this transaction but the execution over the weekend. I’m really proud of the position we’ve put ourselves in and excited about the opportunity that affords us to push forward.”

The conversion gives First Niagara 22 branches in the Rochester market, up from 18 before Friday, and increases its employment here to 464 from 273 last week, company representatives said.

The Buffalo-based bank’s acquisition of 195 HSBC retail branches in Upstate New York and southern Connecticut, including 36 in and around Rochester, was announced last summer.

First Niagara has since reached agreements to sell 12 area branches to KeyBank N.A., seven to Community Bank N.A. and four to Financial Institutions Inc.’s Five Star Bank. It also will close nine branches in the local market.

The acquisition increases First Niagara’s deposits in the Rochester market to $1.9 billion and its market share to 14.9 percent, representatives said.

M&T Bank Corp., in close competition with HSBC as the market-share leader in Rochester the last few years, appears to be No. 1 now. It had local deposits of $3.03 billion at 39 branches and a market share of 19.24 percent as of June 30, 2011, data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. shows.

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