Company History

TD Banknorth had its genesis in Maine, which opened its doors to customers in 1852 as Portland Savings Bank. For its first 130 years, through world wars and the Great Depression, the bank successfully weathered the ups and downs of the local economy – offering traditional savings and loan services.

In 1983, at a time when small community banks were merging in order to compete, Portland Savings merged with Peoples Savings which later merged with Heritage Savings to become Peoples Heritage. The bank went public in 1986 and was listed on the NASDAQ under PHBK. At first, Peoples grew through strategic acquisitions and commercial lending. But by the early 1990s the bottom had fallen out of the economy and the bank was faced with having to close its doors forever. Under the leadership of then President William J. Ryan, Peoples developed and executed a detailed capital spending plan with a goal of becoming New England's premier community bank. One year later, the bank showed a remarkable profit of 16 million dollars and was back on the road to financial health!

Over the next decade the bank grew through a string of ambitious acquisitions. At the same time, the advent of deregulation and advances in technology gave banks the opportunity to offer other financial services. As it continued to expand into New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, and upstate New York, the bank also acquired other lines of business. By the year 2000, the company had made the transition from bank to financial services provider – offering customers insurance, investments, money management, trust advisory as well as traditional banking services – and the bank changed its name to Banknorth Group, Inc. Its stock began trading on the NASDAQ under BKNG.

In 2001 the company's seven subsidiary banks were merged into one under a single charter, and the bank became known as Banknorth, N.A. A year later the company moved its listing to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol BNK. In 2004, just over a decade after almost going out of business, Banknorth was named the best managed bank in America by Forbes magazine.

Later that same year TD Bank Financial Group, one of the largest Canadian banks with headquarters in Toronto, entered into an agreement with Banknorth to become its majority shareholder. By forming a strategic partnership with Banknorth, TD planned to expand into the U.S. The acquisition was approved by stockholders, and in 2005 the bank became known as TD Banknorth.

With the financial strength of TD behind it, the bank continued to grow. TD Banknorth expanded its reach into metropolitan New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania when it acquired Hudson United Bancorp in 2006, and increased its presence in New Jersey with the acquisition Interchange Financial Services Corporation in 2007.

With shareholder approval, TD completed the purchase of TD Banknorth's stock in 2007 and the bank became a wholly owned subsidiary of TD.

On March 31, 2008, TD acquired Commerce Bancorp, Inc., of Cherry Hill, New Jersey. As a result, the operations of TD Banknorth and Commerce Bank will be combined under the brand name TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank®. Conversion of retail locations to TD Bank is expected to be completed in 2009.

Today, TD Bank, N.A., operating as TD Banknorth and Commerce Bank, is one of the 20 largest commercial banking organizations in the United States with over $119 billion in assets, and provides customers with a full range of financial products and services at nearly 1,100 convenient locations from Maine to Florida.