Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | February 3, 2020 | Worcester Business Journal 15 B A N K I N G & F I N A N C E F O C U S February 29, 2020 Mechanics Hall 321 Main St. | Worcester, MA 01608 CentralMAHeartBall.Heart.org Congratulations to this year's Heart of Gold award winners: Local Sponsors Phyllis Pollack, MD MassGeneral Hospital for Children in Worcester Jordan Eisenstock, MD, MBA, CPE Community Neuroscience Services Colleen Ferguson Worcester Public Schools A big help to small businesses. Open your Entrepreneur Checking Account today! Simple. Convenient. Easy to use. For more information, visit: baystatesavingsbank.com/entrepreneur_checking bankHometown, Oxford $176,608 $681,797 286% Cornerstone Bank, Worcester $313,524 $889,611 184% MutualOne Bank, Framingham $294,188 $794,132 170% Main Street Bank, Marlborough $350,615 $823,490 135% Fidelity Bank, Fitchburg $392,793 $854,670 118% Avidia Bank, Hudson $729,594 $1,414,733 94% UniBank, Whitinsville $882,555 $1,590,356 80% Rollstone Bank & Trust, Fitchburg $290,536 $469,680 62% Bay State Savings Bank, Worcester $220,971 $356,755 61% Webster Five Cents Savings Bank $450,270 $689,957 53% Savers Bank, Southbridge $294,068 $422,091 44% Athol Savings Bank $270,547 $375,923 39% Clinton Savings Bank $362,662 $463,195 28% Middlesex Savings Bank, Natick $3,416,973 $4,205,246 23% TOTAL $8,445,904 $14,031,636 66% Deposits in Central Massachusetts-based banks grew by two-thirds over the decade. Amounts shown are in the thousands: A decade of bank growth Source: Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Bank March 2010 September 2019 Growth 2019 bankHometown and Millbury Savings Bank bankHometown expands 2019 Fidelity Bank and Family Federal Savings Bank Fidelity expands 2018 Fidelity Bank and Colonial Co-operative bank Fidelity expands 2018 Rockland Trust and Milford National Bank Rockland expands 2017 Berkshire Bank and Commerce Bank Berkshire expands* 2017 SpencerBANK and Southbridge Savings Bank Cornerstone Bank created 2017 Marlborough Savings Bank and North Middlesex Savings Bank Main Street Bank created 2016 Fidelity Bank and Barre Savings Bank Fidelity expands 2012 Framingham Cooperative Bank and Natick Federal Savings Bank MutualOne Bank created 2012 Commerce Bank and Mercantile Bank & Trust Commerce expands 2011 bankHometown and Athol-Clinton Co-operative Bank bankHometown expands Mergers and acquisitions can be a fact of life for banks, but most based in Central Massachusetts weren't involved in any M&A activity in the 2010s. The most notable deals for them in the past decade: Central Mass. bank M&A *Berkshire has kept Commerce Bank's name on 13 Central Massachusetts locations. Source: Massachusetts Division of Banks Year Transaction Result Federal Deposit Insurance Commis- sion counted more than 12,000 banks in 1990. By 2017, the number dropped below 5,000 for the first time. e smallest banks have been dispro- portionately hit. In Massachusetts, the number of banks with assets of under $100 million has shrunk from 96 to six, said Daniel Forte, the president and CEO of the Massachusetts Bankers Association. While much of that can be attributed to banks growing out of the smallest segment, it's also largely because those are the banks that have been scooped up by larger competitors, he said. Going back to 1960, Massachusetts has almost a third of its banks, Forte said. He expects the trend to continue. Banks are pressed to create economies of scale to help with regulatory require- ments or investing in new technologies, he said. "Much like other mature industries, consolidation has always been there and is going to continue," Forte said. Even still, the decision is largely up to the banks themselves, Tetler said. at's because nearly every bank in Central Massachusetts is a mutual bank, meaning its decisions are driven by de- positors and their directors – not like at a trust, like Berkshire Bank or Rockland Trust, where shareholders may be more driven by bottom-line considerations. "at's a very big distinction," he said. W

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