PEYTON PATTERSON – New Alliance President
The merger of three Connecticut banks is moving forward without any “major hiccups,” according to a spokesman. New Haven-based NewAlliance Bank, the combination of the merger of New Haven Savings Bank, Tolland Bank and The Savings Bank of Manchester, opened in April.
“It’s gone just as planned,” said spokesman Brian Arsenault.
The state approved the merger on March 30. The banking commissioner first approved the conversion of The New Haven Savings Bank to NewAlliance Bank and the formation of that bank’s holding company, NewAlliance Bancshares. The commissioner then approved the acquisition by NewAlliance Bancshares of The Savings Bank of Manchester’s holding company, Connecticut Bancshares, and Tolland Bank’s holding company, Alliance Bancorp of New England, according to documents from the Department of Banking.
NewAlliance is now moving forward with the consolidation of Tolland Bank, Arsenault said, and is proceeding with some operational consolidations. So far, there have been no major customer or operational disruptions, he said. The company did announce earlier this month that it would close 10 branches that overlap other branches in the bank’s existing footprint.
Between 10 and 12 employees of those branches could be laid off, Arsenault said, but executives are looking for positions for those people.
“This consolidation greatly improves the efficiency of our franchise and allows us to keep customer disruption to a minimum, given how close many of these locations are to one another,” said New Alliance President and Chief Executive Officer Peyton R. Patterson, in a prepared statement. “The consolidated locations are being merged into facilities with more service capability, and as good or better branch hours. Additional staff is being added at those locations to improve service and accommodate a larger customer base. In certain cases, ATMs at the consolidated locations will be selectively kept open to provide for the same easy automated access that our customers have come to expect.”
The 10 locations that are closing are being consolidated into other branches in the same town and will leave the bank with 65 branches. The closings will be in Vernon Plaza, Lafayette, Enfield West, Ellington, Coventry, South Glastonbury, Glastonbury, South Windsor, Tolland Plaza and Annex-Manchester, according to a release.
The closings are scheduled for September.
The next major change for the bank is the conversion of its computer system over Labor Day weekend, Arsenault said. The bank plans to do a couple of trial runs before that, he said.
Arsenault said he hopes the computer conversion will go as smoothly as the rest of the merger. He attributes what he described as continued customer loyalty to publicity about the merger. Because customers knew what was coming and what to expect before the merger happened, very few became disgruntled, he said.
So far, the merger is “right on track,” Arsenault said. The bank’s executives have even been pleasantly surprised when the initial public offering start price went up above its original $10, he said. The bank experienced a minor loss in the fourth quarter of 2003, but executives attributed that to merger expenses. The net loss was $135,000.
The bank doesn’t plan to offer any new services in the next few months, but instead will be concentrating on completing the transitions yet to be made, Arsenault said.
The bank, which has assets of $6.2 billion and deposits totaling $3.8 billion, according to its Web site, has branches throughout Hartford, Tolland, New Haven, Windham and Middlesex counties. The new bank is the second-largest savings bank and the fifth-largest bank in Connecticut. Peyton Patterson, previously of New Haven Savings, is president and chief executive of New Alliance Bank.
The bank came from controversial beginnings when its predecessor, New Haven Savings Bank, converted from a depositor-owned bank to a stockholder-owned company earlier this year.
