TD Banknorth - Peoples Becomes Banknorth

Peoples Becomes Banknorth

The Banknorth acquisition was the most significant to date, and with it Peoples assumed the Banknorth name. Banknorth Group Inc. was headquartered in Burlington, Vermont. The company was the holding company for: Franklin Lamoille Bank (1899) in St. Albans; The Howard Bank N.A. (1870) in Burlington; Stratevest N.A. (Investment & Managements) in Burlington (FLB, THB, GSB, FVB, FNB, FMB, EB); Granite Savings Bank & Trust Company (1885) in Barre; Woodstock National Bank (1802) in Woodstock; First Vermont Bank & Trust Company (1906) in Brattleboro; and Farmington National Bank (1854), Farmington, New Hampshire. The merger increased Peoples' assets to $17 billion and gave it a larger presence in Massachusetts, Vermont and, through Evergreen Bank (Glens Falls, (1853), in New York.

The completion of the merger was delayed by regulatory review, but on May 10, 2000, Banknorth Group Inc of Portland, Maine came into being. “The Banknorth acquisition brought into the fold eight separate community banks (Franklin Lamoille Bank N.A., The Howard Bank N.A., and First Vermont Bank N.A. in Vermont; Bank of New Hampshire under the charter of Farmington National Bank in New Hampshire; Oxford Bank & Trust, a division of Peoples Heritage Bank, and Peoples Heritage Bank in Maine; First Mass. Bank in Massachusetts; GBT, a division of First Mass Bank in Connecticut; and Evergreen Bank in New York), with 101 branches, together with an investment management firm, Stratevest, that oversaw some 4 billion in assets and a freestanding mortgage-lending unit.”

The new organization renewed its program of acquisitions. “As Banknorth expanded across the map of New England, the message remained the same: community banking values, enhanced by the resources of a major banking organization, create a better bank.”

Acquisitions in the period included:

• Andover Bancorp, $1.8 billion company – 15 branches in Essex and Middlesex counties, Massachusetts, 2001
• MetroWest – 17 branches in Boston western suburbs – slightly less than $1 billion in assets, 2001
• Ipswich Bancshares – 8 branches north of Boston, 2002
• Warren Bancorp – Essex County, Massachusetts, 2002
• Community Insurance Agencies, Inc — May, 2002
• Bancorp Connecticut – seven branches and $663 million in assets, 2002
• American Savings Bank – New Britain, Connecticut, 2003. Added $4 billion in assets and 47 branches in central Connecticut.
• CCBT Financial Companies — Parent company of Cape Cod Bank & Trust, with $1.4 billion in assets and 26 branches in Barnstable and Plymouth Counties, Massachusetts, 2003
• Boston Federal Savings Bank, subsidiary of BostonFed Bancorp, Inc., with $1.7 billion in assets and $1.2 billion in deposits, and 16 branches in Middlesex, Norfolk, Essex and Suffolk Counties, Massachusetts, 2004

In the 1990s and early 2000s, the emphasis was on the development of a financial services company in a true community bank setting. In 1997, the bank launched what would become Banknorth Insurance Group, and by 2002 built the largest insurance brokerage group in New England. By 2002, Banknorth Investment Management Group had grown out of the trust business of the Bank of New Hampshire and Banknorth Vermont’s consolidated trusts operation, Stratevest.

On December 31, 2001, the holding company, Banknorth Group, Inc., merged its seven subsidiary banks into one bank, Banknorth NA under the Peoples Heritage Bank charter dating back to 1852, with one OCC charter. Using locally relevant trade names retained the local identity in each state.