BY PHIL CUSTODIO
Clarkston News Editor
Waterford Bank’s acquisition of Clarkston State Bank was completed Jan. 1, with the combined bank operating under the Waterford Bank brand.
“We are very pleased that our merger with Clarkston has been completed. We appreciate the efforts of the Clarkston team to complete this merger,” said Mike Miller, chairman and CEO of Waterford Bank. “We look forward to working with Grant Smith and his team to continue serving the communities previously served by Clarkston State Bank, with the expanded services that the combined organization now can provide.”
Integration of processes and core operating systems has been going well, said Grant Smith, former president and CEO of Clarkston State Bank who is now the Michigan President for Waterford Bank.
“The combination of these two community banks, which have similar cultures and values, creates a great opportunity for growth and to offer additional services for our customers and communities,” Smith said. “We are very pleased to join the Waterford family.”
The merger provides a much bigger reach, from a lending-side standpoint, with bigger transactions and loans, he said.
“A lot of our clients are small to medium sized businesses. We can lend up $15 to $20 million now, which covers a lot of ground with a lot of companies,” he said. “We’re going to work on branding, and we’re going to further build out the Michigan market, especially here in Southeast Michigan.”
Account holders will soon receive a welcome kit with all instructions and information they need.
“We’re able to retain account numbers to make it as seamless as possible,” Smith said. “There’ll be new debit cards, that type of thing.”
They’ve also opened up their ATM network, so debit cards will be able to be used in any ATM machine, he said.
Clarkston State Bank’s staff has mostly been retained, he said.
“That was one of our biggest concerns,” Smith said. “We wanted to find another high performing bank like ours and continue to grow and provide opportunities for our current staff and employees, which we were able to accomplish with this deal.”
That will enable them to continue Clarkston State Bank’s level of service, he said.
“It’s all about speed and agility,” he said. “We answer the phones. You don’t get somebody in some other state or country. We can make things happen quickly.”
There are no plans at this time for more branches. The Clarkston branch at 5800 S. Main Street will remain.
“It’s a very busy branch,” Smith said.
The former CSB main offices will move from Waterford to Troy this spring, to be more central in the market, Smith said.
“We do a lot of business throughout southeast Michigan,” he said. “We need to be somewhere where our staff and calling officers can get to a little quicker than being so far north.”
Waterford Bancorp, Inc. is a registered bank holding company based in Toledo, Ohio, with total assets after the merger of approximately $1 billion. Its subsidiary, Waterford Bank, N.A., is an equal housing lender, member FDIC, all loans subject to credit approval, NMLS# 520256, and founded in 2007. It also operates full-service offices in Lucas and Wood counties in Ohio, with loan production offices in Williams and Hancock counties, Ohio. For more info, call 248-625-8585 or visit www.waterfordbankna.com .