Two banks that merged this spring have started searching for a new name.
First Market Bank and Union Bankshares Corp., which merged at the end of March, have this week started brainstorming names for the combined company.
The new bank will be putting up signs at their Virginia locations in 2010. It has more than 90 branches in Virginia. The bank has not said if whether it will cut duplicate branches.
You can read about the merger here.
The consolidated company headquarters will be moved to Richmond.
Katie Gilstrap, vice president of marketing at First Market, said that letting go of the name would be hard for the bank.
But “as hard as it will be to let the name go, it would be more helpful to our customers,” she said. “Because we will have a much larger footprint now, consolidating the brand makes this more seamless for our customers to do business with us.”
First Market was started in 1997.
The combined banks will have deposits totaling more than $4 billion.
Gilstrap said the consolidation would not affect employment at First Market Bank.
However, typically banks cut back-office staff after a merger in order to save on operational costs. When the banks merged, the company said it would shave 9 percent of the combined costs. Some of those costs are regulatory, but they might also be in staff and other overhead.
David Larter is a BizSense reporter. Please send news tips to David@richmondbizsense.com.
First Union?