Metropolitan Commercial Bank, a full-service commercial bank headquartered in New York City, opened it’s first Long Island location last Wednesday at 111 Great Neck Road in Great Neck.
“Long Island, especially the Great Neck area, is an extremely caring community,” said Mark DeFazio, president and CEO of Metropolitan Commercial. “We are thrilled to now be a part of it.”
With three Manhattan locations and one Brooklyn location, Metropolitan Commercial Senior Vice President and Head of Retail Banking Laura Capra said opening a bank in Great Neck would help Metropolitan Commercial keep close ties with their clientele.
“We have a lot of clients of the bank that actually live in the Great Neck area, so we felt it was an opportunity for us to extend our relationship with these clients to set up a center in Great Neck,” Capra said. “A lot of them work in Manhattan and live in the area and it’s a good opportunity for us to build these relationships. It makes perfect sense for us.”
Established in 1999, Metropolitan Commercial has $910 million in total assets and more than 1 million ATM’s available to clients at no cost, according to it’s website.
Metropolitan Commercial had a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday which was attended by DeFazio, Capra, Village of Great Neck Plaza Mayor Jean Celender, North Hempstead Town Councilwoman Lee Seeman, Town Clerk Wayne Wink, and Town Receiver of Taxes Charles Berman.
Celender said the bank’s opening was “a positive outlook for the village and is a strong indicator of the area’s strengthening commercial banking sector and local economy.”
“We’re proud to serve as home of Metropolitan Commercial Bank’s first Long Island banking center,” she added. “We wish them much success and prosperity here in Great Neck Plaza and look forward to working with them and their involvement in the community.”
On top of their banking services, Capra said, the bank wanted to utilize their large space for other local businesses in the community.
“We’ve always been a community focused organization and coming out to Great Neck we look to continue with that focus,” Capra said. “Our space is over 5,000 square feet, which is pretty large for a banking center. Our plans are to open up the center to local organizations for meeting working events in the front of our lobby.”
In celebration of it’s opening, Metropolitan Commercial announced Nov. 13 they would hold a toy drive at the new Great Neck location where they will accept unopened children’s toys and gifts that they will be donating to the Ronald McDonald House of Long Island.
Employees have been at the bank since Nov. 30 collecting donated items and will continue to do so until Dec. 23.
Capra said Metropolitan Commercial would match up to $10,000 in cash donations to purchase additional gifts.
Matthew Campo, executive director of Ronald McDonald House, said the organization relies on donations from members of the community, and is very grateful for the Metropolitan’s partnership.
“We’re excited because this is a special time of the year for our families here,” Campo said. “They really expressed their desire to assist the community.”
Metropolitan Commercial Bank seeks to create a more efficient model for commercial banking by combining new technologies with traditional banking business practices, according to its website.
