Oxford

Central Mass. professionals are on the move at places like bankHometown, Fitchburg State University, and Webster Five.

“Growing organically in Massachusetts is not easy to do. We’ve got to look at M&A as the most likely path to achieving scale.”

Oxford-based bankHometown will be rebranded as TruNorth Bank along with Hometown Financial Group's other subsidiaries as the parent company prepares to become publicly traded.

Central Mass. professionals are on the move at WBJ, bankHometown, and Worcester Housing Authority.

The newest announcement comes from Chase Corp., which plans on shutting down its Oxford facility at 24 Dana Road and laying off 72 employees.

Professionals at Cornerstone Bank, New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill, and more are advancing in their careers.

While M&A activity is now a fact of life in the banking industry, Central Massachusetts banking and credit union leaders are still carefully weighing whether joining forces with others is the right move.

Central Massachusetts professionals are being hired at organizations including bankHometown, Consigli Construction, and Cornerstone Bank.

Worcester Business Development Corp. has added Butler GMC to its Small Business Administration 504 Loan portfolio.

The country has lost about 1,646 bank branches every year since 2018, according to credit-building platform Self Financial.