NORWICH – NBT Bank, Inc.’s presence in central New York will be vastly enhanced with a merger agreement announced Monday with Syracuse-based Alliance Financial Corporation.
NBT Bank President and CEO Martin Dietrich was joined by Alliance President and CEO Jack Webb for a telephone conference regarding the merger yesterday morning. A potential union has been on the table since the beginning of the year, they said. Given new federal restrictions applicable to both banking organizations, the Alliance Bank board of directors unanimously agreed to the merger – as did the NBT board of directors – valued at nearly $233.4 million. According to Webb, the consolidation is a means of growing, becoming more profitable for shareholders, enhancing customer service, and providing more opportunities to current Alliance customers. The merger is expected to be finalized between April and June of next year.
“We believe this is a very unique and special opportunity to bring two strong community bank organizations together,” Dietrich said. He added that “the cultures of these organizations are similar and compatible,” and that the merger will strengthen each bank’s commitment to customers and communities while also enhancing stockholder value.
“The similarity between the two organizations really is incredible ... One of the cornerstones we share is commitment to the communities,” said Webb. “And with the combined size, we are in fact going to be a more formidable competitor.”
Following the completion of the merger, Alliance Bank offices will become NBT Bank locations. The merger will affect 28 Alliance banking locations and 330 Alliance Bank employees throughout Central New York, including those in Cortland, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga and Oswego counties. It will also provide NBT an additional $1.4 billion in assets, $890 million in net loans held for investment, and $1.1 billion in deposits.
“We don’t anticipate any (Alliance) branch closings due to overlap. Our intention is to retain them and continue to support the customer relationships,” Dietrich noted, although job consolidation is expected in some areas. “The customer-facing employees will be less impacted,” he said. Currently, of the 97 NBT branches in Upstate New York, none share immediate domain with Alliance. “We have an experienced conversion team in place that will work closely with Alliance representatives to minimize the impact to customers and facilitate a smooth conversion to NBT Bank,” he stated in a written press release.
After the closing of the merger, Webb will be named NBT executive vice president, strategic support on the NBT Executive Management Team. Moreover, the NBT Board will expand to include two more members who are currently with the Alliance Board.
During the conference, Webb and Dietrich also explained that as federal regulations tighten on banks nationwide, customers can expect to see more efforts similar to the NBT/Alliance merger – made in part to absorb the financial directives of Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, signed into law in 2010 – as small banks are put in a position where they can not bear the burden of expensive costs.
NBT Bank heads more than 135 banking locations and employs approximately 1,700 people across the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and had assets of $6 billion as of the end of the 2012 second fiscal quarter.