Bank Branches To Close In Wake Of People's United-Farmington Deal

VERNON, CT — People's United Bank will close 15 branches in the Farmington Bank territory in the wake of its $544 million acquisition.

The closings were released Tuesday. The aquisition — a 100 percent stock transaction — was announced in June and the deal closed in October.

The closure list stretches across north central Connecticut from Vernon to Southington. The closures are designed to eliminate redundancy, bank officials said.

Here is an overview of the doomed branches, most of which are Farmington Bank locations:

• Farmington Bank, 136 Talcottville Road, Vernon
• Farmington Bank, 299 West Middle Turnpike, Manchester
• Farmington Bank, 957 Main St., East Hartford
• Farmington Bank, 486 Silas Deane Highway, Wethersfield
• Farmington Bank, 366 Cromwell Ave., Rocky Hill
• Farmington Bank, 1095 Main St., Newington
• Farmington Bank, 782 Park Ave., Bloomfield
• Farmington Bank, 962 Farmington Ave., Elmwood (West Hartford)
• Farmington Bank, 962 Farmington Ave., West Hartford
• Farmington Bank, The Gables, 20 Devonwood Drive, Farmington
• Farmington Bank, Village Gate, 88 Scott Swamp Road, Farmington
• Farmington Bank, 427 West Avon Road, Avon
• People’s United Bank, 27 East Main St., Avon
• Farmington Bank, 129 New Britain Ave., Plainville
• People’s United Bank, 812 Queen St., Southington

All overlapping branches should be closed and all branches should be converted over to the People's United Bank name by Jan. 26, according to bank officials.

The parent company of People's United Bank is People's United Financial Inc., which trades under the symbol PBCT on the NASDAQ market. First Connecticut Bancorp Inc. was the holding company for Farmington Bank, trading under the NASDAQ symbol FBNK.

Bank officials said every one of the 150 Farmington Bank employees were offered positions within the framework of the merged banks.

At the time of the acquisition, there were 28 Farmington Bank branches. Post-conversion, there will be 157 total in Connecticut and 42 in Hartford County, bank officials said.

Tolland County will be left with four branches. Two are stand-alone branches at 1244 Storrs Road near the University of Connecticut's main Storrs Campus and at the Tri-City Plaza in Vernon, respectively. Branches will also remain at both Vernon Stop & Shop supermarkets.

Photo Credit: Farmington Bank

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