EASTHAMPTON — bankESB will change its name to TruNorth Bank in late summer as its parent company merges three affiliated banks under a single name. Officials say the change will simplify operations while keeping the company headquartered in Easthampton.
“Nothing (will change to customer services) but the rebranding means you’ll see a new look to our website, with our mobile brand and eventually a new debit card with that brand,” said Matthew Sosik, bankESB’s president and CEO, in a recent interview. “There’s no changes to the fundamental dynamics of this company.”
Founded more than 150 years ago, bankESB is one of three banks along with TruNorth Bank, of Peabody, and bankHometown, of Oxford, under the parent company Hometown Financial Group Inc., a $6.9 billion holding company headquartered at 36 Main St. in Easthampton, which Sosik also leads as president and CEO.
Earlier this year, the bank submitted a petition to the Massachusetts Commissioner of Banks to merge all three together under a single name. While the petition has not been approved, Sosik said there is no reason that it would be denied.
Sosik said the move is a “procedural and administrative” merger and while the name is changing, the bank’s familiar logo marked by green lettering with a tree sprouting upward will stay the same.
“It [the name] represents a lot about what the three [banks] mean to our company and the 150-plus years that we have been in the Valley,” Sosik said.
The three banks currently have a combined 55 branches throughout Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire, according to the bankESB website. bankESB has 11 locations in western Massachusetts — including Easthampton, Northampton and Amherst — and has also established a charitable foundation through the Giving Tree initiative.
Sosik called the merger an “internal transaction” that will simplify business operations, shifting staff from running three separate banks to just one. There would be no staffing reductions, he said.
“The main driver is customer convenience so now our customers across the state will be able to do business across all the branches and certainly it simplifies our own internal operations,” Sosik said.
Customers will begin receiving information about the merger in June through mail, social media and other communication channels, Sosik said. The merger is expected to take effect the weekend of Aug. 21, and there will be banners and signs online and outside branch locations, saying the name will soon change.
Sosik said sometimes he thinks it is lost on people that one of “the most financially successful banks in the state, if not the region,” which employs approximately 725 people, is located in Easthampton.
Sosik said the merger will create a single statewide brand while keeping the company headquartered in Easthampton.
Founded in 1869 as Easthampton Savings Bank, the title “bankESB” was born in 2015 after a merger with the former Hometown Bank. At the time, the two combined to have more than $1.7 billion in assets with 23 offices.
Hometown Financial Group has gone through a number of expansions and mergers over the years. The name TruNorth Bank was created in February this year when Hometown rebranded North Shore Bank and Abington Bank — two banks on the east coast under the parent company at the time. In November last year, Hometown acquired CFSB Bancorp, Inc., and had additional acquisitions in 2022 and 2017.
