Northwest Savings Bank of Pa. to Buy Insurance Firm

Northwest Savings Bank in Warren, Pa., is expanding its insurance business.

The $8 billion-asset subsidiary of Northwest Bancshares (NWBI) said Wednesday it would buy The Bert Company, which operates an employee benefits and property and casualty insurance firm known as The Bert Insurance Group, based in Erie, Pa.

Northwest said The Bert Insurance Group would operate as a subsidiary of the bank. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"We're about banking, business solutions, financial planning and insurance," Shawn Walker, Northwest's vice president of marketing, told American Banker. "Those are the four corners of our business."

"The purchase and merging of these two companies expands our offering in the insurance line and allows us to bring the market a better, more diversified product," Walker added.

Northwest currently offers employee benefits through its Veracity Benefits Design subsidiary, which the bank acquired in 2010.

"We look forward to introducing new services to our valued clients and to expanding the scope of Northwest Savings' services to include property and casualty insurance," Douglas Bert, The Bert Insurance Group's co-founder, said in a news release.

Northwest said Bert would remain with the company and become president of Northwest's insurance operations.