February 1, 2001
Vol. XXX, No. 2

Merger Completions

On December 31, Chase Manhattan Corp, New York, NY, completed its acquisition of J.P. Morgan & Co., New York, NY. The resultant company is J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., whose stock began trading January 2 on the NYSE under the symbol "JPM." As of June 30, 1999, Chase Manhattan Corp, New York, NY, had total deposits of $1.9 billion and ranked 16th among all commercial banking and thrift institutions in New England. On December 31, Seacoast Financial Services Corp, New Bedford, MA, completed its acquisition of Home Port Bancorp, Inc., Nantucket, MA. As of June 30, 1999, Seacoast Financial Services Corp, New Bedford, MA, had total deposits of $1.6 billion and ranked 10th among all commercial banking and thrift institutions in Massachusetts. As of the same date, Home Port Bancorp, Inc., Nantucket, MA, had total deposits of $212.3 million and ranked 82nd.
(Internal Notice, 12/29/00; SNL Bank and Thrift Weekly, 1/8/01)

On December 29, 2000, Granite Bank, Keene, NH, purchased two branches from Webster Bank, Waterbury, CT, Webster's only New Hampshire branches. The branches, located in Hampton and Portsmouth, NH, are the former main office and a former branch of the closed Olde Port Bank and Trust, Portsmouth, NH. As of June 30, 1999, Granite Bank, Keene, NH, had total deposits of $652.8 million and ranked fifth among all commercial banking and thrift institutions in New Hampshire.
(Internal Notice, 1/2; SNL Bank and Thrift Weekly, 1/8/01)

On December 26, 2000, Naugatuck Savings Bank, Naugatuck, CT, opened a branch located at 565 Straits Turnpike, Watertown, CT. As of June 30, 1999, Naugatuck Savings Bank, Naugatuck, CT, had total deposits of $335.1 million and ranked 29th among all commercial banking and thrift institutions in Connecticut.
(State of CT Dept. of Banking News Bulletin, 12/22/00)

On December 21, 2000, @Bank, Framingham, MA, voluntarily liquidated. The bank, which opened for business on July 6, 2000, was a federally chartered, Internet savings bank.
(Internal Notice, 7/6; 1/2/01)

On January 25, the Department of Justice ("DOJ") approved the merger between FleetBoston Financial Corp, Boston, MA, and Summit Bancorp, Princeton, NJ. As a condition of approval, FleetBoston agreed to sell five branch offices in the Atlantic City, NJ, area, containing $232 million in deposits, in order to resolve antitrust concerns. Without the divestitures, the DOJ said the Fleet-Summit combination would have reduced competition for small business banking services in the Atlantic City area. The companies signed a definitive merger agreement in 2000. The proposed merger is still subject to approval by the Federal Reserve Board of Governors ("Fed").
FleetBoston Financial Corp was formed by the October 1, 1999, merger of holding companies Fleet Financial Group, Inc., Boston, MA, and BankBoston Corp, Boston, MA. As of June 30, 1999, Fleet Financial Group, Inc., Boston, MA, had total deposits of $42.2 billion and ranked first among all commercial banking and thrift organizations in New England. As of the same date, BankBoston Corp, Boston, MA, had total deposits of $34.6 billion and ranked second. As of the same date, Summit Bancorp, Princeton, NJ, had total deposits of $594.7 million and ranked 47th.
(Reuters, 1/26/01; SNL Bank and Thrift Weekly, 10/4/99; Boston Globe, 10/26/99)

On January 15, delivery systems operator United Parcel Service, Inc., Atlanta, GA ("UPS"), agreed to acquire First International Bancorp, Inc., Hartford, CT ("First International"), for approximately $78 million in stock, according to a news release on the UPS web site. First International is the parent company of First International Bank, Hartford, CT. The deal is subject to banking regulatory approval. As a condition of the merger agreement, First International Bank will become a state-chartered, nondepository bank by the time the deal concludes. The bank has agreed to divest its $260 million in deposits and will thereafter cease to be regulated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC"), and First International will cease to be regulated by the Fed. The deal is also subject to First International shareholder approval. As of June 30, 1999, First International Bancorp, Inc., Hartford, CT, had total deposits of $204.7 million and ranked 41st among all commercial banking and thrift institutions in Connecticut.
On January 26, Chittenden Corp, Burlington, VT, agreed to acquire Maine Bank Corp, Portland, ME, for $49.3 million in cash. As of June 30, 1999, Maine Bank Corp, Portland, ME, had total deposits of $202.9 million and ranked 17th among all commercial banking and thrift institutions in Maine.
(National Information Center, 1/31; UPS Press Release, 1/16; SNL Bank and Thrift Weekly, 1/22; 1/29/01)

During the week of January 22-26, People's Bank, Bridgeport, CT, announced that it will close two branches on April 28. The branches are located at 29 Albany Turnpike, Rte. 44, West Simsbury, CT, and 15 Masonic St., New London, CT. As of June 30, 1999, People's Mutual Holdings, Bridgeport, CT, parent company of People's Bank, Bridgeport, CT, had total deposits of $7 billion and ranked second among all commercial banking and thrift institutions in Connecticut.
(State of CT Dept. of Banking News Bulletin, 1/26/01)

On December 28, 2000, FleetBoston Financial Corp, Boston, MA, completed the sale of "troubled commercial loans" with a carrying value of nearly $1 billion. Included in the sale was a transfer of commitments to advance approximately $150 million to the underlying borrowers. Also sold were $225 million of nonperforming loans; the remainder was principally composed of other troubled but accruing loans. FleetBoston sold the loans for $725 million in cash, plus $203 million in securities, to Patriarch Partners, LLC, New York, NY, a fund-management firm. Patriarch raised approximately $1 billion from investors to set up the fund and acquire the loans. As a result of the transaction, FleetBoston said its total nonperforming assets as of December 31, 2000, will be 10 percent less than in the third quarter of 2000.
(SNL Bank and Thrift Weekly, 1/15/01)

On January 8, Boston Private Financial Holdings, Boston, MA, acquired Taylor Investments, Inc., Concord, NH, an investment advisory firm catering to the wealth management market, for approximately $10.5 million in stock in a pooling-of-interests transaction. Taylor will operate as a wholly-owned unit of Boston Private, with offices in Concord and Boston. Following the acquisition, Taylor will adopt the name "Boston Private Value Investors, Inc."
(SNL Bank and Thrift Weekly, 1/15/01)

On January 9, Webster Financial Corp, Waterbury, CT, acquired insurance agency Musante Reihl Associates, Cheshire, CT, through Webster Financial's subsidiary, Webster Insurance. One of Connecticut's largest agencies, Webster Insurance writes in excess of $180 million in premiums.
(Webster Corp News Release, 1/10; SNL Bank and Thrift Weekly, 1/15/01)

On January 19, Valley National Bancorp, Wayne, NJ, completed its acquisition of Merchants New York Bancorp, New York, NY.
(SNL Bank and Thrift Weekly, 1/22/01)

On January 1, Oneida Financial Corp, MHC, Oneida, NY, completed its acquisition of insurance agency Noyes & LaLonde, Inc., Liverpool, NY. Noyes & LaLonde will be merged into Oneida unit Bailey & Haskell Associates, Inc.
(SNL Bank and Thrift Weekly, 1/8/01)

On January 2, NBT Bancorp, Inc., Norwich, NY, agreed to acquire First National Bancorp, Inc., Norfolk, NY, for approximately $15.1 million in stock. Under terms of the agreement, NBT will exchange five shares of its common stock for each First National share held.
(SNL Bank and Thrift Weekly, 1/8/01)

On January 8, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. unit Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corp, Edison, NJ, said that it will buy the mortgage business of Advanta Corp, Horsham, PA. The acquisition includes a $15.8 billion mortgage-loan servicing and subservicing portfolio with more than 200,000 customers and other net assets. Advanta also has annual origination capability in excess of $1 billion. The proposed acquisition will supplement Chase's origination activity in the subprime mortgage business. The company said the Advanta non-prime servicing portfolio is one of the largest in the country and includes Chase's nonprime portfolio, which Advanta has been subservicing. The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter, subject to regulatory and Advanta shareholder approval.
(SNL Bank and Thrift Weekly, 1/15/01)

On January 3, the Fed and the Department of the Treasury ("Treasury") issued joint interim rules identifying three general types of activities that are "financial in nature" in order to implement provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley ("GLB") Act. The regulators were required to come up with consistent standards in applying the provisions of the GLB, and set out to define three types of activities: lending, exchanging, transferring, investing for others, or safe-guarding financial assets other than money or securities; providing any device or other instrumentality for transferring money or other financial assets; and arranging, effecting or facilitating financial transactions for the account of third parties. The Fed and the Treasury declared the interim rules effective January 4.
(SNL Bank and Thrift Weekly, 1/8/01)

On January 17, the Fed and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ("OCC") announced that they have proposed new rules governing the capital treatment of equity investments in nonfinancial companies held by banks and their holding companies. The new proposed capital treatment, revised in response to public comment and in consultation with the Treasury Department and other federal banking agencies, represents a significant modification of a proposal made by the Fed in March 2000.
The new proposal would apply symmetrically to banks and their holding companies and would apply to equity investments made under the new merchant-banking authority under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. The proposal would also apply to equity investments in nonfinancial companies made under other specifically identified legal authorizations. The new plan generally would impose a capital charge that would increase in steps with increases in the bank's level of concentration in equity investments.
(SNL Bank and Thrift Weekly, 1/22/01)

NOTE: Items in this publication focus on developments affecting banking structure in New England. The items are condensations of articles from a selected group of daily newspapers and press releases of federal and state financial regulatory agencies. Their reproduction does not imply our endorsement of the accuracy, opinions or policies reflected in the subject matter. BankNotes is available without charge. To be added to the electronic mailing list or to the paper distribution list, send an e-mail message to Boston.BankNotes@bos.frb.org. If unable to do so, call (617) 973-2860. To access BankNotes on the Web, check the Boston Fed's web site at www.bos.frb.org/economic/banknote/index.htm. For updated banking structure information, check the Boston Fed's web site at www.bos.frb.org/bankinfo/struct/index.htm.