Sep. 17--Shake-ups in the Cleveland banking community during the past year could mean an opportunity for Columbus-based Huntington Bancshares to increase its market share there.

To help accomplish that goal, Huntington yesterday announced it has added a well-known Cleveland banker to its board and will increase its commitment to that community, said Jim Dunlap, Huntington's director of regional and commercial banking.

William Robertson, 68, was added to Huntington's board of directors on Monday.

"The board wanted to appoint another director who had strong community ties in Cleveland," Huntington Chief Executive Steve Steinour said in a statement. The move also builds on the change going on in the Cleveland banking arena.

"Banking is a momentum business," Dunlap said. "And when an event occurs, such as (PNC Financial Services purchasing Cleveland-based National City), that puts customers in motion."

PNC bought financially troubled National City for $5.6 billion in a deal that closed at the end of last year.

National City is the Cleveland area's biggest bank, with $20.1 billion in deposits and a 31.6 percent market share, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. And it's not the only northeastern Ohio bank that's had its share of troubles. AmTrust, the fourth-largest Cleveland bank, was chided by regulators last year for unsafe banking practices and has sold some of its branch offices to raise money.

"They still have a strong presence in Cleveland and Akron, but (AmTrust is) consciously trying to shrink their balance sheet, and that creates opportunities for others," said Charles Crowley, managing director of investment banking at Stifel Nicolaus & Co., a Cleveland investment-banking firm.

Huntington is sixth in the Cleveland market, with $3.6 billion in deposits, a 5.7 percent market share.

Its new board member brings a long history in that market. Robertson was a longtime National City executive, serving as president and a director before retiring in the mid-1990s.

He was a consulting partner with Kirtland Capital Partners of Cleveland until he retired in 2006.

Robertson is a trustee emeritus of the Cleveland Museum of Art and trustee of the Prentiss Foundation, a Cleveland charitable trust that promotes health care.

"The primary motive from my standpoint was ensuring that Cleveland continues to have a viable and competitive banking environment," Robertson said in an interview.

Huntington chose well, Crowley said.

"Bill Robertson is a very well-regarded banker," he said.