Dunmore Beginnings

The Fidelity Deposit and Discount Bank opened in 1902 at the corner of Blakely and Drinker Streets in Dunmore, the borough pressed against Scranton’s eastern boundary. It served the coal patch communities of the upper Lackawanna Valley, where miners, merchants, and small manufacturers needed a local institution to hold deposits and extend credit. Fidelity stayed at that same Dunmore Corners location for more than a century, operating under its original charter while banks across the region merged, failed, or relocated.

In 1951, the bank installed the area’s first drive-through window, a novelty in northeastern Pennsylvania at the time.

Growth Under Santaniello

Daniel J. Santaniello, a Lackawanna County native and 1990 Marywood University graduate with a degree in accounting, became CEO in December 2010. He had spent the previous decade running the bank’s retail division as executive vice president and chief operating officer, overseeing day-to-day branch operations from 2001 to 2010.

The bank he inherited held roughly $500 million in assets. Over the next fifteen years, that figure grew to $2.8 billion and the workforce more than doubled. Some of the growth was organic, driven by early adoption of digital tools. Fidelity launched online deposit account opening in 2008 and introduced a fully digital mortgage application process in 2019.

But the largest gains came through acquisitions.

The MNB and Landmark Acquisitions

On May 1, 2020, Fidelity completed its purchase of MNB Corporation, the parent company of Merchants Bank of Bangor, in a transaction valued at $78.5 million. Merchants Bank brought $412.8 million in assets and nine branch offices across Northampton County, opening Fidelity’s first foothold in the Lehigh Valley. The combined bank held approximately $1.6 billion in assets. Fidelity’s holding company, Fidelity D&D Bancorp, Inc., traded on NASDAQ under the ticker FDBC.

A little more than a year later, on July 1, 2021, Fidelity closed on Landmark Bancorp, the parent of Landmark Community Bank, which served primarily Luzerne County. The Landmark deal pushed the combined institution to approximately $2.3 billion in assets and $2.1 billion in deposits. What had been a single-office Dunmore bank now stretched across four counties.

Community Banking Awards

The American Bankers Association named Fidelity one of its “Top 200 Community Banks in the U.S.” six years running, and Bauer Financial gave it a 5-Star “Superior” rating for five consecutive years. Forbes ranked the bank third in Pennsylvania for client experience on its “Best-In-State Banks” list. Fidelity also held the number-one position among community bank mortgage lenders in northeastern Pennsylvania for eight straight years.

The bank’s charitable spending tracked its growth. In 2019, Fidelity distributed $802,000 in donations and employees logged 3,370 volunteer hours. By 2023, giving had climbed to $1.36 million and staff recorded 5,983 volunteer hours across the communities where Fidelity operates.

The Electric Building Move

In 2021, Fidelity funded the restoration of the Electric City sign atop the Board of Trade Building on Courthouse Square, the illuminated rooftop landmark that had proclaimed Scranton’s nickname since 1916. The following April, the bank purchased the building itself for $2.5 million to serve as its new corporate headquarters.

The renovation was originally estimated at $13 million but rose to $26 million as pandemic-era construction costs climbed. Governor Josh Shapiro announced $5 million in state RACP funding in 2024, part of a total $9 million state investment. When completed, the project will relocate 165 employees to downtown Scranton, consolidating staff from the North Washington Avenue and Connell Building offices. The Dunmore Corners branch where Fidelity opened in 1902 will remain open. Completion is targeted for mid-2026.

Current Operations

As of late 2024, Fidelity employs 294 people across 21 full-service offices in Lackawanna, Luzerne, Lehigh, and Northampton Counties, with one wealth management office in Schuylkill County. Brian J. Cali chairs the board, where Sam Cali served as a director for more than fifty years. Total assets stand at approximately $2.8 billion.