Liberty Bank, North Adams State Bank to merge operations on June 26; all employees to be retained

QUINCY — The boards of directors for Liberty Bank and North Adams State Bank recently announced the two banks will merge to become one bank on Thursday, June 26. 

Mark Field, president and chairman of the board of Liberty Bank, said in a press release that regulatory approval has been granted by both the FDIC and the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation for the merger, and preparations are underway to get ready for the combination. Field said the resultant bank will still be 100 percent locally owned.

North Adams State Bank will merge all operations into Liberty Bank.

“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,” he said. “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.” 

Field explained that every employee of both banks will remain with the bank, and all the directors will continue to serve on the combined board.

“We are 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.

Field said direct deposits and automatic payments for North Adams customers will not be interrupted, as the routing numbers for both banks will continue to work for some time after the merger. Customers are being asked to switch electronic deposits and payments to reflect Liberty’s routing number, 081214161, as soon as possible after the merger.

“We are doing everything we can in order to make the merger a positive experience for all of our customers,” said North Adams Bank CEO Jeff Longlett, who will become chief operating officer of the combined 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.”

Employees are working with customers who hold an account number that was duplicated at both banks. In that situation, the affected customers at both banks are being assigned new account numbers to make sure 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 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. Any electronic transactions tied to the customers’ debit cards will need to be updated at that time.

Field said North Adams customers will see many benefits to the merger, including utilizing more locations for help with their banking needs, reduced fees, added services and more account options.

After the successful completion of the merger, Liberty Bank will have offices in Liberty, Barry, Payson, Quincy, Ursa and Camp Point. It will have combined assets totaling $178 million.