NBT Bancorp of Norwich, N.Y., will put a Pennsylvania-style name on the two Pennsylvania banks it bought this year.
LA Bank in Scranton and Pioneer Bank in Carbondale are to be merged in the fourth quarter as Pennstar Bank.
NBT, which also owns NBT Bank in New York, announced last December that it would buy $586 million-asset Lake Ariel Bancorp, the parent of LA Bank, and $415 million-asset Pioneer American Holding Co., and said that it would merge them. The Lake Ariel deal closed in February and the Pioneer deal five months later.
Pennstar will be based in Scranton. Its $1 billion of assets and 36 branches will make it the largest bank headquartered in northeastern Pennsylvania.
John G. Martines, the chairman and chief executive officer of LA Bank, will become the chairman of Pennstar, and John W. Reuther, president and CEO of Pioneer American Bank, will be the vice chairman. David E. Raven, LA Bank's president, will be the president and chief operating officer.
