About Us
A Message From the President
elcome to a different kind of bank.
Some banks talk about personal service. At Christiana Bank & Trust Company, personal service is our only way of doing business. Our recent merger with National Penn, as a wholly-owned subsidiary of National Penn Bancshares, Inc., retaining our name and status as a Delaware chartered banking corporation, will not change this.
We were founded by a group of seasoned banking professionals and business leaders. Our philosophy is based on providing superior service and unparalleled accessibility to decision-makers.
Our customers know what it's like to be greeted by name and have immediate access to the owners of the bank. All of us are experienced bankers and place a high value on knowing our customers and serving their distinctive banking needs.
We are not a conventional bank. We don't have formula loans or even standard applications. We don't have tellers or lines either. You sit down in one of our signature chairs and accomplish your business privately with your personal banker who is empowered to make on-the-spot decisions and who, as a stockholder, has a special interest in providing you with a positive banking experience.
Our trust officers use carefully implemented trust and asset management strategies to assist in the creation and preservation of family wealth. We customize your investment management strategy by first understanding your goals.
Our customers tell us we represent banking the way it should be. They tell us we are a refreshing change from other banks.
We invite you to explore our site. Learn about how we may serve you. If Christiana Bank & Trust Company sounds like your kind of bank, we invite you to join us.
Cordially,
Zissimos A. Frangopoulos
President & CEO
Our History
Christiana Bank & Trust Company was conceived in early 1991 as a result of the turmoil that was happening in the banking industry. Many institutions pursued the ill-conceived strategy of creating earnings by relaxing credit standards and reducing customer service.
Delaware has a banking tradition founded in a legacy of private and corporate wealth. Out of that legacy grew financial institutions where respect for the client and the client's objectives created a banking community with an institutional character based upon personal attention and the needs and desires of their family and institutional clients.
Our founders recognized that an opportunity was at hand to create a banking institution designed exclusively for a market that was entitled to the kind of service that was now merely history with other Delaware institutions. The idea was to build a financial institution staffed with seasoned, highly competent, experienced and empowered professionals whose knowledge, experience and history of personal service distinguished them.
The name of the bank was chosen for two reasons: first, there is a long connection of the name Christiana to Delaware. Second, our headquarters in Greenville is located in the Christiana Hundred. In Delaware there are no townships. Such political subdivisions are known as "Hundreds". A "Hundred", based on old English crown law, encompassed that amount of land where one hundred militia men could be raised to defend the community.
The bank's headquarters' interior design was crafted in the Shaker Style with native cherry wood. The Windsor Chair first crafted in pre-revolutionary America in the valley of the Delaware River was a part of that decor. It has become the symbol of our hospitality, and of the service that we offer. It also has emerged as our corporate logo.
We received our charter in September, 1993, and opened our doors to our first customers on Valentine's Day, 1994.
In January 2001, we opened a bank branch in downtown Wilmington, Delaware at 1314 King Street. This area of the city is known as "Lawyers' Row" because of the numerous law and accounting firms located so near the courthouse. The bank's turn-of-the-century building, quaint landscaped courtyard and ample parking are very convenient for our law and accounting clients.
In January 2008, our planned merger into the National Penn family was completed when we became a wholly-owned subsidiary of National Penn Bancshares, Inc., retaining our name and our status as a Delaware chartered banking corporation