The Cooperative Bank (TCB) is finalizing its merger with Ion Bank, which is located in Connecticut, as the Massachusetts Division of Banks announced its sign off on the deal last week.

The Massachusetts approval – https://gvimes.link/mrgrtcb – is the last regulatory approval needed, according to TCB Executive Director John Battaglia, and follows approvals from Connecticut and the Federal Trade Commission.

“We signed a merger agreement with Ion Bank, out of Naugatuck, Connecticut, and they’re also a mutual bank and not stock-owned,” he said. “We can schedule a closing now which will probably be Nov. 1 or Nov. 2. We’re just finalizing that.”

Battaglia said they will not be changing their support of community organizations.

“The good news about our community partnerships is that Ion Bank will fund a $2.5 million community foundation, so organizations like Rose’s Bounty, Ethos, the YMCA and things like that will continue to be supported, just like we’ve done. We’re a mutual bank, and we support the community. Now we’ll have more access to help those community groups and nonprofits out.”

Since the merger announcement in March, Battaglia said they’ve been working to make sure the transition is easy for their employees and customers.

“In the meantime, over the last few months we’ve been working on conversions and making sure the customers and employees are taken care of,” he said. “The good news is the name TCB will still be on the bank, and all the employees will still have a job.”

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Mergers have a bad reputation these days, but Battaglia said having access to Ion could help TCB to grow.

“It’s all good news,” he said. “It’s one of the benefits of merging with a bank that wants to be in Massachusetts, and they may want to grow in Massachusetts in time. It’s nice to merge with a bank that has the same core values we’ve had. We’ve been working with them pretty closely for the last six months and all the employees are a little pumped up. It makes us a little bigger, and be able to grow a bit. Smaller community banks are having a hard time. Everything costs more money, cyber security and regulations are tough to keep up on. So this gives us a little bit better asset size to do all these things.

According to the Division of Banks, TCB will be absorbed into Ion, with Ion becoming the main office for TCB and the latter being “retained as branch offices of the continuing institution (Ion).” Also according to the decision, Ion has “indicated that for at least five years following the closing of the Proposed Transaction, Ion Bank will maintain all of The Cooperative Bank’s banking offices existing at the closing of the Proposed Transaction and will operate the acquired banking offices under the name “TCB, A Division of Ion Bank.”

The Division of Banks stated it was unlikely that the merger will result in less competition, mainly because the two banks currently operate in separate states.