The Commerce Bank brand name is being removed on all remaining Central Massachusetts branches, five years after Berkshire Bank of Boston acquired the Worcester institution for $230 million.
The process of retiring the Commerce name started in mid-February as the Leominster location became the first of 13 former Commerce Bank branches to receive new Berkshire Bank signs.
The name change is taking place years after the acquisition closure as a show of respect as Berkshire slowly phases out the former financial institution’s brand, said Paul Kelly, Berkshire regional president.
“Berkshire Bank acquired Commerce Bank in 2017 — and because Berkshire understands what it means to have deep roots in communities, as part of the acquisition, we established a generous timeline for phasing out the Commerce name,” Kelly said in a written statement to WBJ.
The news of the removal of the Commerce Bank brand was first reported by MassLive.
When Berkshire acquired Commerce in 2017, it added 16 new branches and $1.8 billion in assets, as Berkshire used the move to further announce the relocation of its headquarters from Pittsfield to Boston.
Commerce was owned for nearly three decades by Worcester businessman David “Duddie” Massad. At the time Massad bought Commerce in 1993, it was a fraction of the size it would become. It was losing money before Massad bought it, and the bank was estimated to be worth only $6 million to $7 million at the time. Its growth in the following years would include buying Boston-based Mercantile Capital and its subsidiary, Mercantile Bank & Trust, for $26.5 million in 2012. Massad died in 2018 at age 90.
The 2017 acquisition by Berkshire was part of the bank’s strategy “to capitalize on growth opportunities and further solidify its regional presence in central and eastern Massachusetts,” said Kelly.
