Community Bank N.A. celebrates 150 years

This year, Community Bank N.A. celebrates a major milestone: its 150th anniversary.A history of community Founded in 1866 as S.D. Hungerford & Co. Bank and later renamed St. Lawrence County National Bank, it all began with one branch location and a few employees in Canton, New York. The bank was renamed Community Bank N.A. in the early 1990s. Today, Community Bank N.A. has its headquarters in DeWitt, New York, a branch network with nearly 200 locations across New York and northeast Pennsylvania, and more than 2,000 employees.Staff at the Seneca Falls branch celebrate the 150th anniversary with an open house party on Friday morning on Fall Street.Modern triumphs The bank has sustained its tradition of a community-focused approach in smaller markets and ensuring high-quality customer service since it first opened its doors in 1866. In recent years, this approach has earned the bank national recognition for customer satisfaction from J.D. Power and Associates, and financial performance from Forbes. In 2015, the bank was named most trusted bank in the Northeast in the MSR Best in Retail Banking Awards.Community Bank N.A. President and CEO Mark Tryniski said: “We are pleased and humbled to be celebrating the 150″ anniversary of Community Bank. The history of our sustainability is as timeless as it is simple: always do what’s right for your customers and your communities. Success and growth are merely by-products. I would like to thank and recognize those who are most responsible for this legacy – our associates. We are, after all, not in the banking business, we’re in the people business. The care and pride our people take every day in serving our customers and our communities has built a foundation of trust and confidence upon which we hope to build the next 150 years of progress.”Customers & staff gathered at the Waterloo Community Bank N.A. to celebrate the bank’s 150th anniversary last week.Looking ahead, sticking to principles Looking ahead at the banking landscape in the coming years, Tryniski said technology will continue to play an increasingly integral role in how banks do business and engage with customers. Community Bank N.A. continues to invest in technology that offers customers convenience and data security as customers increasingly use electronic banking channels. But, he added, the principles of community-mindedness, attention to the individual customer and maintaining a strong team of employees will ensure that the Community Bank N.A. success story will continue well into the future.