Northwest Bancorp Inc. of Warren, Pa., announced Monday that it will fold its small Jamestown Savings Bank in upstate New York into its larger thrift, Northwest Savings Bank of Warren.
The aim is to make banking more convenient for the New York customers, president and chief executive William Wagner said in a press release.
Northwest Savings has $6 billion of assets and 149 branches. Jamestown Savings Bank of Lakewood, N.Y., has $409 million of assets and 10 branches, in Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, and Erie counties.
The five in Chautauqua County, Jamestown's original market, will keep using the old brand after the merger, which is expected to take place in the second quarter.
Merging the thrifts will not significantly cut costs, the press release said, because Northwest already does almost all of Jamestown's back-office processing.
Northwest has owned Jamestown Savings since 1998, when it bought the 49% it had not acquired in 1995, the year Jamestown opened.
