A changing of the guard at TowneBank

TowneBank in Suffolk, Va., has lined up a successor for its founding CEO.

The $8.2 billion-asset bank disclosed during its investor day on Wednesday that Robert Aston, 72, is planning to retire soon. TowneBank did not disclose a specific retirement date for Aston, who has been its CEO since its formation in 1999.

Morgan Davis, 66, will succeed Aston when he retires. Davis, TowneBank’s president since 2011, has also been at the bank since its founding.

Aston, who will remain executive chairman for three years after his retirement, is expected to remain active at TowneBank, Catherine Mealor, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, wrote in a Thursday note to her clients. She said the bank’s strategy will likely remain unchanged despite the transition.

TowneBank has been an active acquirer in recent years, taking over the largest deposit market share in Virginia’s Hampton Roads area after its 2015 purchase of Monarch Bank. It agreed in April to buy Paragon Commercial Bank in Raleigh, N.C., in a deal that is expected to close in late January.

The bank’s first-quarter earnings rose 29% from a year earlier, to $60.3 million.

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