The entity now known as Sterling was founded in 1888 under the name Provident Bank. It later became a subsidiary of Provident New York Bancorp. On August 10, 2012, the company acquired Gotham Bank of New York, which enabled the company to expand into the New York City marketplace. On October 31, 2013, the company acquired Sterling Bancorp through a merger. Provident changed its legal name to Sterling Bancorp and the name of its principal banking subsidiary to Sterling National Bank. The merger was intended to create a larger, more diversified company with a broader range of products and services for small-to-middle market commercial clients and consumers. On June 30, 2015, Sterling completed the acquisition of Hudson Valley Holding Corp., which further expanded its presence in the greater New York Metropolitan region. The company also made smaller acquisitions to add specialized products and services, most recently including Damian Services Corp., a payroll financing business, and a factoring portfolio from First Capital Corp.. Its acquisition of Astoria Bank closed at the start of October 2017. On March 6, 2018, the company announced the acquisition of Advantage Funding Management. On April 9, 2018, the FBI raided Michael D. Cohen’s law offices to seek communications with Sterling National Bank and any information about his loans from Sterling National Bank against his taxi business. In October 2019, Sterling Bancorp's Sterling National Bank agreed to acquire a portfolio of middle market commercial equipment finance loans and leases from Santander Bank. As of September 2019, the balance of the loans and leases outstanding to be acquired was $843M.
Differentiation
The company is pursuing a strategy of becoming a high-performing banking institution with a focus on serving small to middle market commercial businesses and affluent consumers. The bank believes this client segment is frequently underserved by larger bank competitors in its market area. Sterling employs a team-based strategy in which each client is served by relationship team that provides a single point of contact for delivering the bank’s products and services and manages all aspects of the client relationship.
