The Texas Bankers Association has a deal to absorb the small Texas Savings and Community Bankers Association, which represents thrifts.
The merger was announced Thursday at the big trade group's annual convention in Grapevine and is expected to be completed June 30. The thrift group and its subsidiary, the Bank Store, would be merged into the Texas Bankers Association.
The thrift group has just 18 members, five of which also belong to the Texas Bankers Association. That group has 615 members, including 34 thrifts. It began accepting thrifts as members in 1996.
Rick Smith, the Texas Bankers' president and chief executive officer, said merger talks began in March and a deal came together quickly because the smaller group had no long-term contracts, debt, or competing vendors.
The thrift group has just two employees. Its president and CEO, Eric Sandberg, would become the contract employee for government and member relations for the Texas Bankers. Two of the thrift group's members would be appointed to one-year terms on the larger group's board.
After the merger, the Texas Bankers would affiliate with America's Community Bankers while retaining its affiliation with the American Bankers Association.
The Texas Bankers may allocate some political action committee money to ACB, but doing so is not a condition of the merger, Mr. Smith said.
The deal should have no effect on merger talks between the Texas Bankers Association and the Independent Bankers Association of Texas, he said. Those two groups, which broke off merger talks in March, said they expect them to resume next month.
