DeWITT, N.Y. — Allen Naples is back. The veteran banker, who had been a fixture of the Central New York banking scene for more than four decades, retired a year ago but has returned to the industry.

Naples has joined Community Bank, N.A. as a regional executive for the Central New York market, based at the bank’s DeWitt headquarters. He will be the executive in charge of Community Bank’s efforts to build its corporate-banking business across the greater Syracuse area and Central New York.

Naples retired as the Central New York regional president for M&T Bank in May 2021. He spent 16 years at M&T and had a 48-year banking career in total, including working at HSBC.

His first day in his new post at Community Bank was June 21.

Why return to work so soon? Quite frankly, he missed it. Naples tells CNYBJ in an interview that he missed being part of the Central New York economy and the role that bankers play in it and also there’s only so much golf you can play.

“It’s been a struggle retiring. I’ve been getting into golf, playing at least four, five times a week, which was far more than I was used to or would like to do,” Naples says. “I just miss what goes on in the economy. Central New York is extremely important to me and my family. I’ve done an awful lot on the banking side but also the civic and community side and I just wanted to get back to it.”

 Naples says he has been stockholder in Community Bank’s parent company, Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE: CBU), for about 25 years and this was the only bank he spoke to when discussing a return to work. 

“I knew what I wanted. I felt if I’m going to get into the business, I’m going to get with a bank that has the same values and the same kind of direction and commitment to the Central New York community that I have. For me getting back into it was either going to be with Community Bank or I would just stay retired,” he said.

Naples will have about a dozen bankers that will work under him in his new role at Community Bank.

“We are really happy that Allen Naples has joined us after a long and successful career in banking at a lot of different places,” says Mark Tryniski, president and CEO of Community Bank. “I have known Allen for 20 years, maybe longer, from the community as well as the banking industry. Allen retired from M&T and was interested in doing something else and we were interested in having him,” He joined Naples for a June 21 phone interview with CNYBJ. 

Tryniski continues, “What Allen has done in the Central New York market … is remarkable and astonishing. His skill and understanding of this market and his relationships across the Central New York community at every level are remarkable. It’s a great fit for us to have someone of Allen’s experience and expertise in this market join Community Bank.”

Tryniski would like to see Community Bank boost its share of the Central New York banking market. Though based in DeWitt, Community Bank ranked just sixth in deposit market share in the Syracuse metro area as of June 2021 with just a 6.6 percent share of total deposits, according to FDIC data. It has 13 branches in the metro area but just three in Onondaga County.

“We have a lot of opportunity in this market. I would say we are underpenetrated in this market relative to our size and capacity. We have the lending capacity and products and services to be able to serve 98 percent of businesses in Central New York,” Tryniski said.

Naples said that was one of the factors that helped convince him to join Community Bank. “There’s not a product or service from one end of the spectrum — from the retail side to small business to middle market, to the commercial real-estate side — that Community Bank does not have the capacity and capabilities to offer at a very compatible level to any of our competitors in the marketplace.”

Community Bank operates more than 220 branches across upstate New York, northeastern Pennsylvania, Vermont, and western Massachusetts. Community Bank System has total assets of more than $15.6 billion. 

In the broader 16-county Central New York area (including the Southern Tier, Mohawk Valley, and North Country), Community Bank ranked fourth in deposit market share with just under 9.6 percent, per the latest FDIC data.