WashTrust announces plans to open two R.I. branches

WASHINGTON TRUST BANCORP plans to open two branches in the coming months - in Providence and Coventry.
WASHINGTON TRUST BANCORP plans to open two branches in the coming months - in Providence and Coventry.

WESTERLY – Washington Trust Bancorp Inc., parent of The Washington Trust Co., plans to open two branches, one on the East Side of Providence later this year on Waterman Street and another in Coventry next year on Tiogue Avenue, Chairman and CEO Joseph J. MarcAurele said this week.
President and Chief Operating Officer Edward O. “Ned” Handy III said the bank, which reported record second-quarter profit of $11.5 million on Monday, believes there is still room to gain more market share, especially in the greater Providence area.
The bank has a 9 percent market share of deposits in the state, he said, the third largest, behind Citizens Financial Group Inc. and Bank of America Corp., which are No. 1 and No. 2, respectively.
The bank also recently opened a branch in the Rumford section of East Providence, Handy said.
Washington Trust has 20 branches now, and will have 22 once the East Side and Coventry branches open. Nineteen of the branches are in Rhode Island; one is in Mystic, Conn.
While transaction counts are fewer inside branches – an industrywide trend thanks to the popularity of online banking – Handy said these locations are necessary as customers do like to have “eyeball to eyeball” contact. The branches being constructed also are smaller in size and feature fewer employees than ones previously built, resulting in lower costs for the company overall, Handy said. These branches typically have four or five employees, he said.
The officials also discussed the company’s plans to acquire Halsey Associates, a New Haven, Conn., investment adviser with annual revenue of approximately $4 million, in the third quarter.
Although an exact price was not named, Washington Trust expects to pay about 6.5 times Halsey’s 2014 earnings, MarcAurele said.
MarcAurele said details about the acquisition cost will be released within the next 30 days.
The bank, which is the state’s oldest community bank, also is celebrating its 215th anniversary next month.

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