BOSTON – NBH Holdings Corp., a bank holding company launched last year by a group of former Citizens Financial Group executives, is building up holdings in the Midwest.
NBH has agreed to purchase nine branches of the failed Overland Park, Kan.-based Hillcrest Bank in four states and 32 offices that provide banking services to residents of assisted-living facilities. NBH will also pick up $1.5 billion in deposits.
Federal regulators closed Hillcrest last month after it grappled unsuccessfully with an asset portfolio riddled with troubled loans.
The planned Hillcrest acquisition by NBH follows an announcement in July that the Boston-based company was purchasing 38 branches of the Kansas City, Mo.-based Bank Midwest for $4.3 billion.
NBH gained notice last year when James G. Connelly, who had resigned in June 2009 as president of Providence-based Citizens Financial Group Inc., and seven other banking executives unveiled the new company and raised $1.15 billion.
Connelly, CEO of NBH, died of an apparent heart attack in January, and days later, former Citizens Financial CEO Lawrence K. “Larry” Fish stepped in temporarily as NBH’s top executive.
Tim Laney, another banking veteran, has been NBH’s president and CEO since June 1.
“We are very excited to welcome the Hillcrest customers and employees to NBH,” Laney said in a statement. “We are confident the combined Hillcrest and Bank Midwest will provide high-quality products and services to our customers and be a strong community-oriented bank.”
