New Alliance Merger Will Cost 50 Jobs

There will be a big jobs shuffle at New Alliance Bank, once its new out-of-state owner takes charge. WNPR’s Harriet Jones reports, that will include a permanent reduction of 50 positions.

NewAlliance, the former New Haven Savings Bank is being taken over by First Niagara Financial Group, based in Buffalo, New York. The deal just received final approval from shareholders, and will now be scrutinized by regulators. As part of the merger, First Niagara says it will eliminate 230 back office positions, but will also add 180 new positions dealing directly with customers in retail banking. That means a net reduction of 50 jobs, about 4% of the Connecticut bank’s workforce. 60 of those whose jobs are being eliminated have indicated they won’t seek new positions at the merged bank. First Niagara’s Frank Polino is in charge of the integration effort.

“We’ll be leaving all retail locations open. New Alliance is 88 branches today. The combined First Niagara New Alliance combination will have north of 350 branch locations now across the Northeast. New Alliance adds Connecticut and a portion of Massachusetts to our current footprint and we’re excited to spread out our franchise to the New England states.”

First Niagara says it will fulfill its obligations under the Community Reinvestment Act with a $1 billion investment over five years, most of which will be in lending to small businesses and in low income communities.

For WNPR, I'm Harriet Jones.