North Fork Bank has a very rich history of acquisitions over the years. It came into being with the merger of Mattituck and First National Bank of Cutchogue in Cutchogue, New York in the year 1950 and was called North Fork Bank & Trust Company. Then in the year 1980 North Fork Bancorporation was formed. And in the year 1988 Southold Savings was acquired.
Throughout the 1990’s it kept acquiring different institutions and kept on expanding in the New York City market. In the year 1991 it acquired Eastchester Financial Corporation in Eastchester, New York. Then the North Fork Bank acquired Bayside Federal Savings in Bayside, New York in the year 1994.
The North Fork Bank then acquired the Bank of Great Neck in Great Neck, New York in the year 1995. In the year 1996 it acquired 10 locations of First Nationwide. North Side Savings was also acquired by North Fork Bank in the year 1996. The year 1997 brought along with it the acquisition of Branford Savings Bank by the North Fork Bank in the year 1997.
In the year 1998 Home Federal Savings, Amivest Corporation, New York Bancorp was acquired by the North Fork Bank. In the year 1999 it acquired Reliance Federal Savings & Jamaica Savings Bank FSB. And in the year 2001 it acquired the domestic deposits Commercial Bank of New York and expanded its two branches in Manhattan. In the year 2004 the Trust Company of New Jersey and GreenPoint Financial were acquired by the North Fork Bank.
The biggest acquisition came in the year 2005 and 2006 when the North Fork Bank its Melville, New York headquarters were acquired by Capital One for $14.6 billion U.S. dollars. This was the second biggest acquisition by Capital one for expansion into the retail banking market. All North Fork Bank branches started using the branding of Capital One on March 10, 2008.
When North Fork Bank was acquired it was serving the New York City metropolitan area with more than 350 branches and it had assets of approximately $60 billion
The Greenpoint Financial acquired by North Fork Bank in the year 2005 was dropped by Capital One in the year 2007 because of the subprime mortgage crisis. But Capital One kept on carrying out its mortgage business through its branches and Home Loan Division.
In the year 2006 North Fork Bank organized a North Fork Bank Jazz Festival in Oyster Bay, N.Y. which was a great hit.
Apart from the North Fork Bank’s great financial history of mergers and acquisitions, it has also been doing great work for the community. The services to the community are in many forms. They make donations for the causes or arrange programs in which their employees volunteer to educate the audience. Once such mentionable work that the North Fork Bank did was making donation to the charity name Special Olympics of Long Island. The North Fork Bank started a program for this donation. This program was called Running for a Reason. In this program, the North Fork Bank donated $20 dollars for each all purpose yard that the Laveranues Coles would receive, raising $22,240 in this manner for Special Olympics of Long Island. This donation and program benefited and inspired all.
Not only this, the North Fork Bank is also supporting to improve the lives and standard of life of the residents of New Jersey. Due to the economic crisis, it is becoming difficult for the low and the moderate income group people to afford decent living. Therefore it is working with the local not for profit organization to help people afford housing. For this reason, in the year 2007, it donated $10,000 each to the number of not for profit organizations to make it possible to provide affordable housing. Along with this, the North Fork Bank also offered many banking products to support the same purpose. These products included construction loans and reasonable mortgage loans.
