Photo courtesy Kevin Harkins Photography
The questions began pouring in just minutes after our article early this morning about Rockland Trust’s acquisition of Enterprise Bank.
Among them; questions about branch closures or layoffs, would the name change, and would Enterprise Bank’s generous record of charitable giving and commitment to the community continue.
According to George Duncan, the driving force behind Enterprise’s founding in 1989 and the “face of the bank” as far as many are concerned, the merger with Rockland Trust is a match between two very similar corporate cultures.
“Rockland Trust is one of the best community commercial banks in New England, if not the best,” Duncan tells InsideLowell. “Our geography is complementary to theirs in the sense that we do not have any overlapping branches and therefore, there are no plans to close any of our existing branches. Rockland Trust intends to maintain a major presence in downtown Lowell. They are a perfect fit with our culture, philanthropy, and community service philosophy and have been named one of the area’s Top Corporate Charitable Contributors by the Boston Business Journal for the past 11 years. As a result of this merger, we will be able to enhance our lending and investment products and services to better serve our combined client bases.”
As to whether “a major presence in downtown Lowell” means the full existing presence, encompassing more than a full city block between Merrimack, Shattuck, Middle and Palmer streets, past mergers may offer a clue.
Rockland Trust has acquired a dozen other organizations since 2000 alone, and in at least the two most recent mergers, there have been branch closures. However, in previous mergers where Rockland was expanding outside of its existing area, there didn’t appear to be any immediate closures.
In 2021, after Rockland Trust acquired East Boston Savings Bank, 16 EBSB locations were closed. In the aftermath of acquiring Blue Hills Bank in 2019, a branch from each institution was closed.
In both of those cases however, Rockland Trust was acquiring an institution located in an area where they were already doing business. The nearest Rockland Trust location to any of the Enterprise Bank branches is in Burlington, which likely lends some credence to the belief that there are no plans to close any existing locations.
