Business & Tech

Rockville/United Bank Announces Branch Consolidation Plan for Ellington, Enfield, Manchester and Suffield

Customers will be provided "ample notification of the consolidations," according to a news release.

Rockville Bank and United Bank announced today that they have "identified" four branches to consolidate to "minimize branch overlap that would occur after their strategic merger of equals." 

Company leaders on Thursday say that these consolidations would help, "make the combined bank stronger, more efficient and better able to serve the public in the banks’ very competitive geographic markets."

Rockville and United included the proposed list of consolidations in regulatory filings this week.

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According to a news release, after reviewing the banks’ locations, studying the close proximity of United and Rockville branches and determining the inefficiencies that exist, the banks determined to consolidate four branches, subject to regulatory and shareholder approval of the merger.

A news release outlined the plan:

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• United Bank’s branch located at 23 Main St. in Manchester will be consolidated into the Rockville Bank branch at 768 North Main St. United’s Main Street branch is a little more than  a mile from Rockville’s North Main Street location. Rockville has two other branches in Manchester located at 341 Broad Street and the Big Y Supermarket Branch. 

• The Rockville Bank branch located at 12 Main St. in Ellington will be consolidated into the United Bank branch at 287 Somers Rd. in Ellington. These two branches are less than 1 mile apart. The Bank will file an application to apply to open a loan production office in the Rockville Bank branch and maintain an ATM. 

• United Bank’s branch located at 268 Hazard Ave. in Enfield will be consolidated into Rockville Bank’s branch at 231 Hazard Ave. These two branches are less than a half-mile apart. Rockville is currently planning a renovation at the Hazard Avenue branch "to enhance the customers’ banking experience." Rockville Bank has another branch located in the Enfield Big Y Supermarket on Palomba Dr. and United Bank has a branch located at 855 Enfield St.

• United Bank’s branch located at 112 Mountain Rd. in Suffield will be consolidated into the Rockville Bank branch at 275 Mountain Rd. These two branches are less than a half mile apart.

Rockville and United employees who work at these branches proposed for consolidation will be offered comparable positions in the same or nearby communities. according to a news release. 

Customers will be provided "ample notification of the consolidations," according to a news release.

Any regulatory applications to consolidate the four branches in Ellington, Enfield, Manchester and Suffield will not be filed until their merger application receives regulatory and shareholder approval, which they are anticipating in the first half of 2014. Therefore, customers would not see any branches consolidate until late 2014, at the earliest, bank officials said. 

"Customers, employees, shareholders and the communities we serve are always in the forefront of any decision we make, particularly when it came to determining which United and Rockville branches we propose consolidating," said William H. W. Crawford IV, president and chief executive officer of Rockville Bank and Rockville Financial, Inc. . "After looking at duplicative services of the combined bank, the close proximity of our branches and the inefficiencies that exist within the branch network, we came to a sound and practical business decision that will result in significant cost-savings and greater shareholder return without compromising both Banks’ long history of providing superior customer service or dramatically impacting our hardworking branch teams."

"When we announced our strategic merger of equals with Rockville Bank, we knew there were overlapping Rockville and United branches that required careful and deliberate decision-making in regards to consolidation. The four branches we are proposing to consolidate will create the efficiencies we are looking for while ensuring our customers always have access to convenient banking locations with the friendly, caring and customer-focused branch teams they are accustomed to everyday. I am confident this short list of branches will have very minimal or no impact at all on our customers while strategically positioning the combined bank for future growth," said Richard B. Collins, chairman, president and CEO of United Bank.

Bank officials expect that due to an increased demand for the products and services of the resultant bank, there will be additional opportunities to open retail branches in the future.

Last month, Rockville and United announced a merger that would create – a $4.8 billion community bank "with the size, scale and product breadth to compete effectively."

The combination will create the largest community bank headquartered in the Hartford – Springfield market with the top five deposit market share in each of the Hartford and Springfield metropolitan statistical areas, according to a news release.

Under the merger, which is still subject to regulatory and shareholder approval, Rockville Bank will change its name to United Bank and be traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol: UBNK. Crawford will become CEO of the combined bank and  J. Jeffrey Sullivan from United will be president.


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