Bankwell appointed Matthew J. McNeill executive vice president and chief banking officer. McNeill will join Bankwell’s executive team as well.

“I’m thrilled to join such a dynamic and accomplished Bankwell team. I look forward to becoming part of the company’s continued success,” McNeill said.

McNeill was most recently head of commercial lending at Metropolitan Commercial Bank in New York where he was responsible for managing all aspects of commercial banking for a $3.2 billion commercial bank, including commercial lending, cash management, commercial deposits and consumer lending.

During his 20 year banking career, he previously served as senior commercial relationship Manager at HSBC, a business banker at Santander and a managing partner at American Real Estate Lending.

As chief banking officer, McNeill will oversee Bankwell’s C&I lending business, commercial real estate lending business, small business lending, treasury management and business development teams. He will report to Christopher R. Gruseke, president and CEO of Bankwell and its parent company, Bankwell Financial Group.

“We are excited to welcome Matt to the Bankwell management team. A proven winner, Matt has demonstrated his ability to build successful lending teams and to deepen customer relationships,” Gruseke said. “Bankwell’s addition of Matt as chief banking officer represents a critical step toward achieving our strategic goal of becoming a more commercially-focused community bank.”

Bankwell is a community bank operating in Connecticut.