Commerce Bank reaches deal with federal regulators, announces retirement of long-time chairman, CEO Hill

CHERRY HILL, N.J. — Commerce Bancorp, Inc. said Friday that long-time chairman and CEO Vernon W. Hill II, is retiring from Commerce Bank effective today and as chairman and CEO of Commerce Bancorp effective July 31.

Hill is the architect of Commerce Bank’s aggressive consumer-oriented growth strategy that has had the bank expanding into South Florida, the Washington, D.C., area, and New York City.

Hill also has come under fire from federal banking regulators for insider business dealing involving himself, his relatives and the bank.

Commerce Bank also announced it has reached agreements with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve to overhaul the bank’s business practices, instituting a ban on deals between the bank and its directors, officers and their relatives. Also:

— All prior related-party real estate and vendor transactions have been, or will be terminated, revised or reviewed by independent parties.

— A new board-level real estate review committee will be formed.

— The board’s audit and nominating and governance committees will be reviewed and restructured,

In replacing Hill, Commerce has created the office of the chairman of Commerce Bank, appointing to it Dennis DiFlorio as chairman and Robert Falese as president and CEO.

DiFlorio has been president of Commerce Bank, overseeing retail banking, operations, information technology, marketing and human resources. Falese was president of commercial and investment banking and will continue to oversee those functions, in addition to his new responsibilities.

Hill, who is in his 60s, holds an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He founded Commerce in 1973, and built it into the fast-growing bank in the country by using tactics more akin to retailing, or more accurately, fast food, than banking — it refers to its offices as stores.

Not surprisining given his background as a Burger King franchisee.

 

 

---