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Dedham Savings Bank and South Shore Bank have concluded the merger transaction of both its bank holding companies, with 1831 Bancorp, MHC as the surviving entity effective on Jan. 1.
Both banks will continue operating independently from each other but will have the ability to support each other in taking on more of bigger loans, the two lenders said in a joint press release. 1831 Bancorp will effectively have $4.3 billion in assets
Peter Brown, president and CEO of Dedham Savings, said in a statement that the decision to keep the banks operating separately is due to honoring the value of their heritage as mutual banks, and noted that “we will continue to operate that way.”
South Shore Bank CEO Jim Dunphy said in a statement that the two banks are almost identical asset sizes with very little geographical overlap, with Dedham Savings managing $2.2 billion in assets, and South Shore Bank having $2.1 billion in assets.
“The ability to come together like this gives us a tremendous opportunity to deploy capital in more ways than we could independently. This will enable us to be strategic about our investments and to retain our great employees while serving clients we have worked hard to attract over the years. As a combined holding company, we also have significantly increased our lending capabilities with the ability to make larger loans within our combined banking enterprise,” Dunphy said.
Brown will be CEO of the newly combined holding company and Dunphy will be president.
The leadership management team of 1831 Bancorp is composed of: Mark Ingalls as chief financial officer, Pam O’Leary as chief operating officer, Vicki Graves as chief information officer, John Huether as chief risk officer and Victoria Kane as chief human resources officer. All holding company officers will jointly hold their current roles at their respective banks.
The board of directors will consist of Peter Brown as chairman, Jim Dunphy, Suzanne Andrade, J. Leonard Bicknell, Jeanean Davis-Street, James Elcock, John Emmons Jr., Gary Evee, Kevin Hampe, Jean Joy, Juanita Allen Kingsley, Alexander Leith, Frank Marinelli, David O’Brien, Arthur Sharp, Michael Sheehan, Margaret Spagone and Dean Steeger.
Dedham Savings has branches in Dedham, East Dedham, Needham, Norwood, Sharon, South Boston, Walpole and Westwood; South Shore Bank has offices in Hanover, Brockton, Braintree, East Bridgewater, Hingham, Norwell, Quincy, Stoughton and Weymouth.
