An analysis of an annual report from Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. shows Wilmington-based WSFS Bank extending its Delaware market share lead over M&T Bank.
WSFS now has a 23% market share, based on deposits from “full service” banks.
According to FDIC reports, WSFS moved ahead of M&T in 2019, about a decade after the Buffalo-based financial institution acquired Wilmington Trust, at the time the state’s largest full-service bank.
WSFS has since grown through acquisitions that included the First National Bank of Wyoming in Kent County.
More recently, WSFS has focused on the Philadelphia area by snapping up Beneficial and Bryn Mawr Trust. The two acquisitions have doubled the size of WSFS.
WSFS has been working on gaining a business mix similar to the old Wilmington Trust, with a combination of banking and fee-based money management services. A recent example was the acquisition of Bryn Mawr Trust and its fee-based businesses
M&T has maintained the Wilmington Trust name for its fee-based businesses. M&T has grown outside of Delaware by acquiring regional banks. Of late, it has struggled with a systems conversion at recently merged Peoples United, a bank based in Connecticut.
Excluded from the rankings below are TD Bank and credit card banks that house deposits in Delaware.
TD has a dozen branches in Delaware and, in a likelihood, ranks among the top 10 full-service banks in market share.
The new kid on the block is Chase, which has opened several branch offices in the state and plans to expand in the Delaware Valley. Also moving up in the rankings is Bank of America, which is now rivaling Wells Fargo in total deposits. Both Chase and Bank of America have a large built in customer base from their workforces.
See rankings below:
| Bank | Assets (000) (1) | Estimated market share % (1) | Offices | |
| WSFS | $7,874,600 | 23.1% | 32 | |
| M&T | $7,173,890 | 21.1% | 40 | |
| PNC | $5,988,642 | 17.6% | 39 | |
| Wells Fargo | $2,819,626 | 8.0% | 17 | |
| Bank of America | $2,711,878 | 7.9% | 9 | |
| Citizens Bank | $1,515,312 | 4.0% | 20 | |
| Fulton Bank | $942,976 | 2.7% | 11 | |
| Artisans Bank | $602,147 | 1.7% | 13 | |
| County Bank | $541,843 | 1.5% | 7 | |
| Chase | $325,545 | 1.0% | 7 | |
| Bank of Delmarva | $263,921 | 0.8% | 4 | |
| Shore United Bank | $237,299 | 0.7% | 4 | |
| Applied Bank | $233,296 | 0.6% | 2 | |
| First Citizens | $207,164 | 0.6% | 3 | |
| Bank of Ocean City | $75,500 | 0.2% | 1 |
