Image courtesy of HarborOne Bank.
HarborOne Bank has agreed to acquire four East Boston Savings Bank branches that will close following the merger with Rockland Trust Co., making the Brockton-based bank the second local financial institution to acquire some of the soon to be vacant branches.
In a deal similar to one that Rockland Trust has agreed to with Chelsea-based Metro Credit Union, HarborOne will acquire four branches in Brighton, Brookline and Cambridge and offer jobs to the East Boston Savings Bank employees who work at those locations.
“Due to the considerable overlap in Rockland Trust and East Boston Savings Bank’s respective footprints, we knew that branch closures were inevitable, but we were determined to explore ways to minimize the employee and community impact,” Robert Cozzone, Rockland Trust’s chief operating officer and executive vice president of consumer and business banking, said in a statement. “It is very rare for competitors in the financial services industry to come together in an agreement like this, but we’re confident that by entering into transactions with Metro Credit Union and HarborOne to transfer these locations, we are doing what’s right for the colleagues who work in these branches and the neighborhoods these branches serve.”
Like Metro Credit Union, HarborOne will acquire the leases to the East Boston Savings Bank branches, along with the furniture, fixtures, and equipment, but not the customers. Employees at the respective branches will receive job offers, subject to a background check, from Metro and HarborOne, as well as a full severance package from Rockland Trust.
Metro Credit Union will move into four East Boston Savings Bank branches in Burlington, Melrose, Dorchester and West Roxbury, with plans to relocate two of its own offices to the Burlington and Melrose branches.
HarborOne said in a separate statement Thursday that the four locations would accelerate the bank’s expansion in Greater Boston. After opening a Boston loan production office on Broad Street in 2018, HarborOne opened a full-service branch at the same location in 2019 and new locations in Quincy and South Boston during the past year.
The bank said that a “market-driven activation strategy” had generated over $370 million in loans and over $100 million in deposit relationships from these locations.
HarborOne’s newest branches will be at 1608 Commonwealth Ave. in Brighton, 1952-1956 Beacon St. in the Cleveland Circle section of Brighton, 1739 Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge, and 473 Harvard Street in Brookline, near Allston.
East Boston Savings Bank had opened all four of these locations between 2018 and 2020, with the Brookline branch opening a year ago.
“These new branches will expand our Greater Boston regional presence at a time of substantial market disruption caused by the sale of several community banks,” Joe Casey, HarborOne Bank’s president and chief operating officer, said in the statement. “We believe our experienced neighborhood banking teams will be in a unique position to provide the personal, consultative banking services that we are known for, and customers will come to trust the overall banking experience that we deliver.”
The $4.6 billion-asset HarborOne has about 30 offices in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. HarborOne said in its statement that it had recently hired two experienced business bankers with connections in Greater Boston to complement the existing team of commercial bankers.
“We’re excited for the opportunity to open new branches in these well-established areas, where demand for retail and commercial banking services is so strong,” HarborOne CEO James Blake said in the statement. “Our presence in the Boston area has grown significantly in recent years – allowing us to better serve long-time customers who commute to the city and to build new relationships with people attracted to our strong service commitment.”
The sale of the branch locations is scheduled to take place before the end of the year after Rockland Trust acquires East Boston Savings Bank. Cozzone recently told Banker & Tradesman that the acquisition is expected to be completed in mid-November.
