St. George's Town & Country Bank merges with People's Intermountain

People’s Intermountain Bank, the parent company of Bank of American Fork, and Town & Country Bank Inc. of St. George have announced an agreement to merge. The Town & Country Bank office and the Bank of American Fork branch in St. George will be combined in January 2018. Upon consolidation, the combined entity will be a division of People’s Intermountain Bank and will operate under the name People’s Town & Country Bank.

The merger is subject to approval by the Town & Country Bank shareholders, regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

The successes and strengths of these two banks will complement each other in building the St. George community, People’s Intermountain said in a release, The merger will allow the two banks to share the many expenses that are hurting community banks. The increase in expenses, decrease in profits and new government regulations over the past few years have made it harder for small banks to continue operating as they have done in the past, the bank said.

“The merger will allow People’s Town & Country Bank to help build the community of St. George without sacrificing the unique and valuable customer service that customers like,” the statement said.

People’s Town & Country Bank will also be able to offer mortgage loans following the merger, something they have not been able to do in the past.

“We believe it will be highly beneficial to our customers to have access to the additional resources that will come from joining the People’s Intermountain Bank family,” said Kurt Johnson, chairman of the board of Town & Country Bank. “We also anticipate being able to support more community projects that are important and valuable to the St. George community. This merger will add substantial capital and other new technologies and products to Town & Country Bank that have not been available before.”

“We are excited to combine the strengths of Bank of American Fork and Town & Country Bank in this community-bank merger,” said Brad Stucki, the head of the new People’s Town & Country Bank division.

People’s Town & Country Bank will also be able to support larger projects that may have gone to bigger, money-center banks in the past, Stucki said. “Decreasing expenses by improving efficiencies and increasing capital by joining forces with another community bank will increase lending limits that will allow customers to do larger projects,” he said.

The combined People’s Town & Country Bank division in St. George will have loans of approximately $133 million and deposits of $128 million.

Bank of American Fork branches in other areas will not be affected by the St. George area name change.

“We appreciate the unique style of customer service that Town & Country Bank has created. We look forward to working with customers and employees to preserve some of the most-important aspects of that style,” said Richard Beard, president and CEO of People’s Utah Bancorp. “The People’s Town & Country Bank division will allow us to continue the community-banking tradition so important to American small business while spreading the high regulatory and operating costs of banking over a broader base.”