Our Story

Peapack-Gladstone Bank’s history dates back to 1921 when Garner Hill founded the Peapack-Gladstone National Bank and opened our first branch, located adjacent to his hardware store in Gladstone, NJ. Mr. Hill was passionate about building an institution on a foundation of client service, trust and integrity. In 1921, deposit balances were recorded with passbooks and ledger cards and there were no debit or credit cards, no ATMs, no drive-in teller windows, no mobile banking, and no crypto currencies. (Of note, in 1921 there were six kinds of paper currency in the U.S. – United State Bank Notes, National Bank Notes, Federal Reserve Notes, Federal Reserve Bank notes, Gold Certificates and Silver Certificates).

By the end of 1925, PGNB was growing briskly and looking to expand its services. The surrounding area’s wealthy residents made the Trust business a natural choice. Thus, on November 30th, the bank reorganized as Peapack-Gladstone Trust Company with capital stock of $120,000 (well in excess of the state required minimum of $100,000) and ended the year with total bank assets of $542,189.

During the throes of the Great Depression, directors and others in the area agreed to purchase near-worthless securities in the bank’s investment portfolio for $73,984 to provide capital and keep the bank afloat. Concurrent with this recapitalization, the bank reorganized as Peapack-Gladstone Bank – the name and organization that remains to this day.

In 1972, PGB established today’s Trust Department. By year-end 1974, total client assets under administration in the trust department totaled $3.3 million.

From the 1970’s through the early 2000’s both the bank and the trust department grew significantly. New branches were established, the company moved its corporate headquarters two times and, in 2000, PGB made its first and only bank acquisition, acquiring Chatham Savings, FSB which had total assets of $79.6 mil:

($000s)




1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
2022
2023
Total Y/E Bank Assets
$42,252
$157,533
$568,413
$1,505,425
$5,890,442
$6,353,593
$6,476,857
Net Income
$604
$1,704
$7,708
$7,664
$26,192
$74,246
$48,854
Total Y/E Trust AUAs
Not Available
$145,016
$709,732
$1,904,404
$8,807,578
$9,947,599
$10,931,783
Under the leadership of the Board of Directors, in 2012 the bank recruited a new CEO , who, together with the entire management team, formulated and launched a strategy dubbed, “Expanding our Reach” - a vision that would transform the bank from a local community bank, with a local “trust and investment department”, to a high-performing, growth-oriented boutique private bank, capitalizing on our well-known local reputation for service and trustworthiness. Key to executing on this strategic plan was building a top-tier commercial banking business and greatly expanding our trust and investment capabilities.

Over the past 10+ years, a number of new leaders, advisors and other professionals joined PGB, excited by the vision, the energy and the team-based culture. From 2015 through 2021 we made a number of acquisitions of registered investment adviser firms to supplement our own organic growth. Through these acquisitions, we have added a number of highly accomplished new colleagues, new capabilities, new locations, and many new clients.

We have rebranded our combined investment, trust, fiduciary, tax, and financial planning business units and subsidiaries under the name, Peapack Private.

Today, our wealth management division is the largest New Jersey-headquartered, bank-owned trust company in the state with over $10 billion of client assets under management and administration. We have over 100 team members in our Bedminster, NJ headquarters and offices in Morristown, Princeton, Teaneck, Red Bank, and Summit, NJ. We also have a trust office in Greenville, DE.  Peapack Private provides comprehensive investment, trust and fiduciary, financial planning, and tax advice to individuals, families, privately-held businesses, family offices, and not-for-profit organizations.

We are proud of our more than 100-year history of providing high-level advice and serving our clients well. We are equally gratified to have been able to maintain the core principles and culture that were established in 1921, which have been the key to our longevity and success – Clients First, Professionalism, Invested In Our Communities, Teamwork and Competing To Win.