Massachusetts

Hometown Financial will merge Abington Bank into Pilgrim Bank. The combined bank will be run by Andrew Raczka, Abington's CEO.

The process involved a charter conversion and took nearly a year to complete.

The Boston company reported a quarterly profit despite special charges, mortgage headwinds and lost SBA revenue tied to the partial government shutdown.

Bob Mahoney, CEO of Belmont Savings, called Jack Barnes after People's United agreed to buy a Connecticut bank. The banks announced their own merger agreement five months later.

HarborOne Bancorp — led by James Blake, one of our five community bankers to watch in 2019 — is a former credit union that recently made its first bank acquisition and has Boston and other markets in its sights.

The Massachusetts-based institution has paid out over $10 million to its members since 1996.

The $180 million acquisition is the first for Berkshire since the sudden departure of CEO Michael Daly.

The Massachusetts bank has offered wealth management services in the state for several years.

New president Lyndon Matteson is expected to also eventually take on the CEO role once Edward Lopes retires in late 2019.

Bernie Winne has been named temporary leader as the trade group searches for a successor to Paul Gentile.