Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Mark Frost, Chronicle Editor
Glens Falls-based Arrow Financial Corporation will acquire Utica-based Adirondack Bank, the banks announced on Feb. 26. Arrow operates Glens Falls National and Saratoga National Banks and Upstate Insurance agency.
Adirondack operates 19 branches in Oneida, Herkimer, Franklin, Essex and Clinton counties, and a loan production office in Onondaga County.
Arrow CEO David S. DeMarco told The Chronicle Friday the deal is an ideal fit.
“I’ve said they’re just like Arrow, only a little smaller.” He termed them both “deeply rooted and culturally aligned community banks.”
Mr. DeMarco said the acquisition price was “roughly 78% stock, 22% cash. So, based on the market price of our stock on the day we announced, it’s a $89.1 million, basically, $90 million price.”
Mr. DeMarco said it’s a “big deal” for Arrow. He noted, “We have not done a full bank acquisition in 35 plus years.”
“We’re a $4.5-billion bank and they’re a billion dollar bank, so a 25% increase. But more than the numbers, it’s a natural extension of our growth strategy — in a community that looks and feels like where we do business.
“Our strategy to continue to provide shareholder return is to grow. And I’ve said this many times, we want to grow in markets that look and feel like our markets.”
Mr. DeMarco termed it “a compelling strategic combination. We will now be, based on asset size, the number-four community bank in upstate New York. [And] it gets us into this Tech Valley, if you will, of New York.
“And what’s probably most exciting for us, and I think for Adirondack Bank, is we’ll be adding some complementary products to their normal bank offerings — our wealth management group, our insurance group, and just by our size, we can, assist larger, whether it’s businesses, municipalities, we can bring some significance to that.”
The Chronicle asked: How does a deal like this come about? Do you approach them or they approach you?
“Every opportunity’s different,” Mr. DeMarco said. “It’s no secret, I have been public that merger and acquisition opportunities are part of our strategic plan. I’ve been talking with bank CEOs for a couple years now. It’s all about timing. The saying is, banks are sold and not bought.
“I can talk ’til I’m blue in the face, but if there’s not a compelling reason, it doesn’t matter. They’re a privately held company, the Clark family, legendary family in Utica. They decided they wanted to sell the bank. So we got approached by an investment banker to have this discussion with them.”
Adirondack Bank President and CEO Rocco F. Arcuri, Sr. is “staying,” Mr. DeMarco said. “He’s a 45-year banker, been with the company, I think almost 20 years. He’s a Utica guy from birth. He will stay as our regional president.
“And their chief credit officer [John Bufffa], who’s a long time Mohawk Valley guy — in fact, I had some banker friend of mine say he’s the number-one banker of the Mohawk Valley — he’ll stay as our regional senior loan officer who’s out there.”
The Chronicle asked: What market share does Adirondack have in its area?
“Probably 30%?” Mr. DeMarco replied.
Chronicle: You’re used to a lot more than that.
DeMarco: “You’re right…I love telling people that in Warren and Washington County, we have 60% market share. Those numbers are unheard of.
“I talked to my peers…If you’re in the 25 to 35% market share, you’re doing great. as competitive as the business is.”
The Chronicle asked: How’s Adirondack’s base, the Utica market, doing?
DeMarco: “I’m glad you asked that question. I’ve come to find out, Utica is doing great. They had a philanthropist make a $50 million investment. They have a brand new hospital. The Chobani yogurt factory. They have this semiconductor company, Cree Technology, which I guess had a few financial bumps but is now humming along.
“And, of course, the big thing that our banking friends from the Syracuse area keep talking about is the new $100 billion Micron semiconductor facility, which broke ground a week ago, or a month ago.
“It is probably three plus years before we’ll see anything significant, but it’s an extension of our market, and it puts us in what many people are calling part of the Tech Valley of New York.”
Chronicle: Arrow has seen a substantial run-up in its share price. Why do you think that is? [Arrow’s low in the past 12 months was $22.72 and its high $36.44. Friday it closed at $33.31 It was actually up to $33.35 on gloomy Tuesday.]
DeMarco: “I wish I could tell you it’s because we just had a record quarter and a very strong 2025, which we did, but our stock price, like most community banks, rises and falls with the industry. I’ve seen that my whole career. Banks like ours can have record years, but if the industry, in general, is struggling, [share] prices go down. We’ve had average years, and it went up.
“I do think we’ve been talking to investors more frequently over the past couple years, institutional type investors, telling our story, and I do think that we’re executing on what we said we would do.
“Our profitability is back to being at the top level, and we expect that to continue, and these growth strategies will help that. But in terms of our recent run up, I track probably a dozen different community banks, and we’ve all seen a nice little run up. I think we were undervalued for a while. But we think there’s more room for stock appreciation, too.”
Chronicle: What’s the opening in the market for banks your size?
DeMarco: “On the consumer side, that’s becoming less and less of a competitive advantage, because everybody’s banking digitally on their phones, and they would argue, ‘I don’t need to know the bank or know the branch.’
“But I’ll tell you where it’s really truly an advantage is on the small business side. Banking relationships are critical. We’re a relationship bank. We’re not a transaction bank. Even on the consumer side, we try to build relationships over the years, the ability to help people with their insurance needs, their investment, retirement needs, and tried to create a one stop shop.”
Chronicle: Do you have eyes farther into central and western New York?
DeMarco: “This is a big transaction for us. We want to make sure it goes well, we want to take care of the community and probably, even more importantly, take care of their customers.
“We still feel like we are the community bank in the north country, and here in Glens Falls, and, you know, one thing I can tell you, our board agrees with management is, while it’s important to grow, we don’t, I don’t, have any growth goals. I’m not going to tell you that we want to be $10 billion. We want to grow to increase shareholder value, but we don’t want to lose our community feel and the way we do business.”
Copyright © 2026 Lone Oak Publishing Co., Inc. All Rights Reserve
