Pittsburgh area banks are cautious, but optimistic about future - Business First of Columbus:

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“I wouldn’t categorize the Pittsburgh market as really being doomand gloom,” said Vincenty Locher, president of Columbus-based ’s Pittsburgh region, who has workefd in banking for 23 “Pittsburgh never had the high highs. We’re not experiencintg the low lows.” Huntington is Pittsburgh’s seventh-largesty bank, according to deposits. It does not break out financialsby “We are still seeing good lending demand in what I’ll classifyg as business banking and commercial,” Lochee said. “Commercial real estate financinb hascertainly slowed, particularly arouns retail developments.
I would say we still see good demande forconsumer lending, althoughb that has slowed, certainly from a historic And we continue to see very nice deposi t growth, which we’ve been very pleaserd with.” Huntington lost 65 centsw per share during the fourth quarter of 2007, due to a combination of factors, including a $512 million provisiobn for credit losses, mostly stemming from its relationshilp with subprime mortgage lender and servicer Analyst are estimating it will earn betweejn 21 cents and 28 cents for the threee months ending Dec. 31.
Huntington raisedx $569 million in a preferred stock offering inthe spring, and in October announced it’s participating in the Treasurh Department’s Capital Repurchase program to the tune of $1.4 The large banks “havre their hands full,” said CEO John so the Indiana, Pa.-based bank, like fellow regionapl financial institutions, is trying to capitalize. “We’re doinvg all we can to be able to fill the creditt needsof communities, and there’s sometimes a limit to your capital that keeps you from bein able to fill that,” Dolan said.
That’s why, he First Commonwealth raised morethan $100 millioh through a public offerinhg of common stock in October. Dolanb and Locher see opportunities to gain customerz and employeeswith ’s pending acquisitiob of , the Pittsburgh region’s second-largest bank in terms of “Anytime there’s a merger, there’z opportunity in the market,” said Locher, who was an executivew at Three Rivers Bank, boughft by , which was acquired by Huntington last “We really are executint the same way we alway have, and we’ll continue to do that.
” Andrewe Hasley, CEO of , Lawrenceville, whicyh trades over the counter but is so closely held two weekzs can pass without a said it’s hard to tell what’s going to happem with the economy. “We all have our eyes on the unemploymengt rates,” he said. “No matter what you say abouty Pittsburgh being shielded from the worstof what’s happenef in the U.S., we’r e not immune.” , the Philadelphia-based investment cut its earnings expectations on custodyu banks, including , early in November.
Thes e are financial institutions that make theidr money from asset managementg rather than retail banking and which were comparatively unscathes by the economic On Nov. 20, BNY Pittsburgh’s third-largest bank by deposits, said it would cut its global work force by 4 or 1,800 jobs worldwide. “That’s an indication that things are tough,” said Thomaes McCrohan, Janney Montgomery director ofequitt research. “Another area where we lowerecd numbers was the equitymarkeg valuations, which hurts (custody revenue stream from assets under Wilson Smith, director of researcjh at Philadelphia-based , tracks F.N.v Corp.
, First Commonwealth and , all of which have “moved aggressively” into Pittsburghj over the past five years, and which creates opportunities for the thred regional banks. “With PNC getting so big, it’s hard for them to take the time and effort inthat market, so it’s really fertild ground for these banks to gain Smith said. “Smaller guys can come in and take loanthat don’t really mean anything to the biggerr players, but are very good business for But he also believes F.N.B.
, First Commonwealtyh and S&T will be cautious and won’t compromise credit