Those of you that are familiar with the Commerce Bank chain which had branches in the Philadelphia, New York and Florida area know they were bought and were rebranded TD Bank.

TD is Canadian based and had a small footprint in the Philadelphia area previous to the Commerce aquisition.

They rebranded every branch within a really short time and my gut is this was a mistake.

First the Commerce brand was well liked in the areas it served by most people (with the exception of rival banks).

Secondly, history tells us that at least in the Philadelphia area they really like familiar bank brands.
Example, approximately 30 years ago Mellon Bank of Pittsburgh purchased Girard bank of Philadelphia and rebranded all the branches immediately. Girard had a good reputation in the Philadelphia area, was around forever and did not call their ATM’s . .ATM’s they cutely named them. . “George”. . . (Lets go to George to get some money! You mean “4 finger” George who will give you a payday loan at 50%. No silly . . George the machine that allows you to get money 7/24/365!).

Disaster. . confusion ensued. . deposits went down. . you know the rest of the story.

Mellon learned their lesson. When they bought another institution in Philadelphia. .PSFS. .they wisely cobranded them Mellon/PSFS.

TD kept the Commerce spokespeople Regis and Kelly. . good move. . kept the tag line. .America’s most convenient bank. . good move. . Changed sign colors from red, black and white to green, black and white. . . not a good move.

Time will tell.