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Article: Commerce Deal Sparks A Debate About Cultures.(Commerce Bancorp Inc. and TD Banknorth Inc. subsidiary of Toronto Dominion Bank)
- Article from:
- American Banker
- Article date:
- October 4, 2007
- Author:
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In announcing his company's deal Tuesday for Commerce Bancorp Inc., Toronto- Dominion Bank's chief executive and president, W. Edmund Clark, said he was attracted to the Cherry Hill, N.J. company's "wow culture" of retail banking.
However, some observers say they are skeptical whether much of that strategy would survive when Commerce becomes part of Toronto-Dominion's U.S. banking subsidiary, TD Banknorth Inc. of Portland, Maine, early next year.
"The Commerce model will change. I can't conceive anything else," said Gary B. Townsend, an analyst with Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. Inc. TD Banknorth "may not expand with the rapidity that Commerce ...