BB&T’s planned acquisition of Allentown-based National Penn Bancshares is set to result in closure of about 25 overlapping branches and back office job cuts.
The exact number of branch closures is yet to be decided, with location and performance serving as the deciding factors in this move.
Previously, the acquisition of Susquehanna offered BB&T 240 branches in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland, with 58 located in the immediate Philadelphia region.
National Penn operates with 124 branches, with 44 located in the Philadelphia region and a majority of them located in the Lehigh Valley and Berks County.
The overlap would be most acute in Berks, Chester, Lancaster, Lehigh, Montgomery and Northhampton counties in southeastern Pennsylvania and Burlington County in South Jersey.
While announcing the $1.8bn acquisition deal with National Penn, BB&T said that it expects to secure cost savings of $65m, or about 30% of National Penn’s non-interest expenses.
The bank has stated that some of these savings will be attained through layoffs of back office personnel, though no specific number has been mentioned yet.
