PHILADELPHIA -- CoreStates Financial Corp, said Monday it will reorganize its branch system in two Pennsylvania counties and close 13 branch offices.
The consolidation is a result of CoreStates recent acquisition of Independence Bancorp.
Four CoreStates First Pennsylvania Bank offices and nine Independence Bancorp subsidiary offices are scheduled to shut down in November of this year. Rosemarie B. Greco, CoreStates' Chief Retail Services Officer, promised that no employees would be laid off as a result of the closings.
CoreStates agreed to acquire $2.6 billion-asset Independence in November 1993. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year, subject to federal regulatory approval.
Independence subsidiaries Bucks County Bank and Trust Co., Cheltenham Bank, Lehigh Valley Bank, and Third National Bank and Trust Co. of Scranton will be legally merged into CoreStates Bank.
The greatest network overlap between Independence and CoreStates, and thus all of the changes, will occur in Bucks and Montgomery counties.
Letters were mailed Saturday to wholesale and retail customers of the affected branch offices notifying them of the changes.
-- Jacqueline S. Gold
