Area bank to open branch in Lansing

Cayuga Lake National Bank (CLNB) will expand into Lansing and plans to open a branch office at the corner of Triphammer Road and Franklin Drive to provide business and personal banking services by the summer of 2021, according to CLNB President and CEO Kelly Wade.

“The bank has a signed purchase offer and is working through the requirements of the due diligence period, which includes the approval of the Office of the Comptroller of Currency,” Wade said.

The bank was founded in 1864 as the First National Bank of Aurora. It currently has branches in Aurora and Union Springs. CLNB has 26 employees and about $180 million in assets.

The branch will employ three to four people. CLNB may hire new local employees or shift current employees to the new location, according to Wade.

“The board of directors and management have been implementing our strategic plan for the bank with a focus on maintaining Cayuga Lake National Bank’s independence that has been in place since the bank was established in 1864,” Wade said. “We feel the expansion into a new market is a major step towards reaching that goal.”

Wade described her team’s approach to the expansion as “strategic.”

“We hired a company to do an analysis of our footprint and how we could expand from our current service area,” she said. “We saw the vitalization of Lansing — there are a lot of homes going up, a lot of population growth, a lot of businesses going into the area — and there is not a financial institution with a ‘brick and mortar’ presence in here.”

CLNB Senior Vice President of Credit Administration Scott Babcock joined the bank in April 2019 from a similar role with the First National Bank of Groton.

“This will be a full-service branch,” he said. “We will offer business and personal banking and will open accounts, accept deposits, make loans and mortgages and will have a drive-through window. We will have a growing presence in Lansing.”
Babcock added that his team offers “the personal touch.”

“This is part of ensuring the future of the bank for the next 150 years,” he said.

The branch will feature “integrated teller machines” that allow for extended banking services outside of normal banking hours, according to Wade.

“The bank is honored and excited at the opportunity to bring a community bank into this market,” Wade said. “We are customer-focused and community-minded and feel that this partnership with the Lansing community will be a mutually beneficial one.”

Babcock said his team also wants to be an active participant in the community.

“We will offer products to the local municipalities at reduced fees,” he said. “We like to immerse ourselves in the communities that we serve.”

CLNB changed its name in the 1960s when it also moved its headquarters to Union Springs, according to Wade. The bank’s founder, Henry Wells, also founded Wells College, American Express and Wells Fargo and Company.

In Brief:

College virtual town hall

Provosts and vice presidents overseeing academic, financial and student life sectors at Cornell University, Ithaca College and Tompkins Cortland Community College will provide campus updates and field questions at a virtual town hall on Tuesday, Aug. 18.

Participants may submit questions by 5 p.m. Aug. 16 to community@cornell.edu or via the Q&A function the evening of Aug. 18.

A meeting link is available at communityrelations.cornell.edu/local-covid19-updates-and-resources.

Free Produce

East Shore Christian Fellowship at 2049 E. Shore Dr. has put out its free produce cart at the end of its driveway. For 10 years, the cart has made fresh vegetables grown in local gardens and farms available to the Lansing community.

Anyone in the community with extra vegetables or fruit from their garden is welcome to put it on the cart. And anyone is welcome to the free produce.

Please share your surplus and take what you can use.