BANKING & FINANCE INTERVIEW
M&A surge Reality of living in the digital world is partly responsible for the plethora of acquisitions activity in the sector
Vincent D’Alessandro First Senior Vice President & Regional President – OceanFirst Bank What makes the South Jersey market a great one for OceanFirst Bank? South Jersey was the very first region outside our original footprint of Ocean and Monmouth counties with which to start our acquisitions. We recognized that the opportunities in South Jersey promote tremendous growth potentiality for the bank into an area of the state boasting a multitude of diverse communities and industries. South Jersey enables companies to grow and expand given the region’s affordability of land versus other areas of the tri-state region while providing great access to corridors and ports. The growth of South Jersey has also been enhanced by the recent pandemic migration of people from urban areas such as Philadelphia. We’ve found that clients in South Jersey are extremely loyal and are appreciative of our bank due to our commitment to the area of the state. Why is M&A activity increasing across the industry? The framework of what comprises managing a bank has changed dramatically over the last decade. We are now fully immersed in the modern-day reality that we are living in a digital world. Clients are looking for multiple channels through which to do business including having access to a full array of sophisticated and advanced products. Banks failing to dedicate resources to their digital advancement and in dealing with the new demands of a faster-paced environment may find themselves having no other option but to sell to a larger organization that can provide such enhancement to their clients. For this reason, along with the ever-changing and more demanding compliance requirements on banks, M&A activity is anticipated to remain high. Banks that fall behind the times and are financially struggling to grow fast enough are left with little options but to sell. 108
| Invest: South Jersey 2021 | BANKING & FINANCE
What are the main challenges for the banking industry? Banks will be challenged to continue to grow and reengineer themselves in an ever-changing world filled with higher levels of digital connectivity and the need for better efficiencies. The old-fashioned traditional bank will need to be focused on developing better technology in building digital platforms required to support its customers’ needs coming out of the pandemic and to gain the efficiencies necessary to deal with the changing industry without relying so exclusively on the old brickand-mortar structure of the past. Additionally, banks will need to remain vigilant in providing lending discipline to the borrowing community to not create over-leverage in the economy and potential credit risks in their loan portfolios. Being diligent in its lending activities while enhancing its digital offerings and continuing to recruit strong bankers are the main challenges for banks.
