Liberty Bank merger now complete

LIBERTY, lll. — The merger between Liberty Bank and North Adams State Bank became official on Thursday.

Regulatory approval was granted by both the FDIC and the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation earlier this spring and the bank remains 100% locally owned, benefitting the six local communities being served.

“Our two local banks were awesome on their own, but there are cost savings and labor efficiencies on
the operations side that make putting the banks together a no-brainer. It keeps getting harder for us
small banks to cover all the costs and comply with all of the state and federal regulations when you
only have so many people to spread those burdens across. This lets us better utilize the time and talents
of our greatest asset – our people.” said Mark Field, President & Chairman of the Board of Liberty
Bank.

Field explained that every one of the employees of both banks will remain with the bank, and all
of the directors will continue to serve on the combined board as well, which is unusual when two banks
merge.

“We are totally focused on our friends and neighbors here in our local communities and we are
happy to keep all of our professional community bankers right where they belong – here at home,” he said.

North Adams State Bank customers can rest assured that their direct deposits and automatic payments will not be interrupted, as both bank’s routing numbers will continue to work for a period of time after the merger. Customers have been asked to please switch all electronic deposits and payments to reflect Liberty’s routing number, 081214161, as soon as they can after the merger.
“We are doing everything we can in order to make the merger a positive experience for all of our
customers” indicated Jeff Longlett, Chief Operating Officer of Liberty Bank. “We are hopeful that folks will see the many benefits we can offer together, and the best part of all is that our customers will still be banking with their same neighbors and friends that they have known for years.”

The staff have been working with customers who hold an account number that was duplicated at both
banks. In that situation, the affected customers at both banks have been assigned new account numbers
in order to make sure that no one gets the wrong deposit or check posted to their account after the
merger. All other North Adams accounts will retain their current account numbers, and only the routing
number information will eventually need to change. North Adams’ debit cards will continue to work
after the merger and they will be replaced with Liberty Bank cards and card numbers when the cards
are set to expire anyway. Any electronic transactions that are tied to the customers’ debit cards will
need to be updated at that time.

Liberty Bank’s new customers will see many benefits to the merger, including being able to utilize more
locations for help with their banking needs, but they will also see many reduced fees, added services
and more account options than ever before.

Liberty Bank now has six offices, located in Liberty, Barry, Payson, Quincy, Ursa and Camp Point with combined assets totaling $178 million.