BOARD OF BANK INCORPORATION
Hearings
Thursday, March 29, 2001
One South Station, Fifth Floor, Boston
At 10:00 a.m.
Chittenden Corporation ("Chittenden"), Burlington, Vermont has petitioned the Board of Bank Incorporation for approval to acquire Maine Bank Corp., Portland, Maine and its subsidiary bank, Maine Bank & Trust Company. In the Commonwealth Chittenden is the holding company for Flagship Bank and Trust Company, Worcester, Massachusetts and The Bank of Western Massachusetts, Springfield, Massachusetts. Comment period ends April 9, 2001.
DIVISION OF BANKS
Decisions
Lowell Co-operative Bank, Lowell - permission to establish a branch office at 687 Rogers Street, Lowell - approved February 22, 2001.
First Essex Bank, FSB ("Bank"), Lawrence - permission to convert to a state-chartered savings bank under the name First Essex Bank. The main office of the Bank will remain at 296 Essex Street, Lawrence - approved February 7, 2001.
Metropolitan Credit Union ("Metropolitan"), Chelsea and Millipore Employees Federal Credit Union ("Millipore"), Bedford - permission to merge Millipore with and into Metropolitan under the charter, by-laws and name of Metropolitan Credit Union. The main office of Metropolitan would remain the main office of the continuing credit union and the sole banking office of Millipore would not be retained as a branch office. As part of this transaction, the by-laws of Metropolitan would be amended to change membership eligibility - merger approved February 22, 2001; by-law amendment provision remained pending after comment period ended February 15, 2001.
MetroWest Bank, Framingham - permission to establish branch offices at (1) 45 Lincoln Street, Newton Highlands; and (2) 15 Broad Street, Boston - approved February 20, 2001.
Provident Bank (The) ("Provident"), Amesbury and The Amesbury Co-operative Bank ("Amesbury"), Amesbury - permission to merge Amesbury with and into Provident under the charter, by-laws and name of The Provident Bank. As part of this transaction, a petition has been filed to close the sole banking office of Amesbury after the merger, if the application is approved - both applications approved February 7, 2001.
Reading Co-operative Bank, Reading - permission to establish a branch office at 170 Park Street, North Reading - approved February 22, 2001.
Applications Pending
Boston Bank of Commerce (The) ("the Bank"), Boston, Massachusetts and Founders National Bank of Los Angeles ("Founders"), Los Angeles, California- permission to merge Founders with and into the Bank under the charter, by-laws and name of The Boston Bank of Commerce. The main office of the Bank would remain the main office of the continuing institution and all of the banking offices of Founders would be retained as branch offices. Comment period ended November 24, 2000.
Boston Gas Employees Credit Union ("the Credit Union"), West Roxbury - permission to amend its by-laws to (1) expand membership eligibility to now include, as set out in the proposed by-law, employees of utility companies which transmit or sell natural gas in Massachusetts, and employees of certain other related entities, as well as other changes specified in the proposed by-law; and (2) change the name of the Credit Union to Energy Credit Union. Comment periods end March 22, 2001.
Bristol County Savings Bank, Taunton - permission to relocate a branch office from 451 Elm Street, North Attleborough to 96 Commonwealth Avenue, North Attleborough. Comment period ends March 20, 2001.
Citizens Bank of Massachusetts, Boston - permission to close its branch offices located at (1) 515 Boylston Street, Boston; (2) Burlington High School, 123 Cambridge Street, Burlington; (3) 728 Washington Street, Norwood; (4) 105 Broadway, Somerville; (5) Cronin's Landing, 221 Moody Street, Waltham; (6) 1000 Southern Artery, Quincy; and (7) One Enterprise Drive, North Quincy. Comment periods end March 20, 2001.
City of Boston Credit Union, Boston - permission to establish a branch office at 53-55 Tolman Street, Dorchester. Comment period ended January 16, 2001.
Easthampton Savings Bank, Easthampton - permission to establish a branch office at 605 Granby Road, Route 202, South Hadley. Comment period ends March 15, 2001.
General Electric River Works Employees Credit Union (the "Credit Union"), Lynn - permission to amend its by-laws to (1) expand membership eligibility to now include those who live, work or worship in Essex County or reside within twenty-five miles of the main office of the Credit Union, as well as other changes which include, but are not limited to, various relationships with General Electric Company, as specified in the proposed by-law; and (2) change the name of the Credit Union to West Lynn Credit Union. Comment periods ended June 22, 2000.
Rockland Trust Company, Rockland - permission to relocate a branch office from Pembroke Shopping Center, Routes 14 and 16, Pembroke to 147-149 Center Street, Pembroke. Comment period ends March 2, 2001.
Springfield Mass. Municipal Employees Credit Union, Springfield - permission to amend its by-laws to expand the associations which qualify persons for membership. The amendment relative to membership eligibility would now include individuals who work, reside or attend school in Hampden and Hampshire Counties. Comment period ended December 21, 2000.
State Street Bank and Trust Company, Boston, Massachusetts - permission to establish branch offices at 1) 770 Sherbrooke Avenue, Montreal, Canada; 2) 100 King Street West, Toronto, Canada; and 3) 8 Shenton Way, #33-03, Temasek Tower, Singapore, the Republic of Singapore. Comment periods end March 13, 2001.
State Street Bank and Trust Company, Boston, Massachusetts - permission to 1) close a branch office located at the Fuji Building 2-3, 3-chome, Marunouchi, Chioda-ku, Tokyo, Japan; and 2) establish a branch office at Shiroyama JT Mori Building, 4-3-1 Toranomon, Minato-k, Toyko, Japan. Comment periods end March 14, 2001.
MARCH 2001 FILING DATE
Complete applications for the March Activity Report must be received by the Division or the Board on or before 5:00 P.M., Thursday, March 15, 2001.
COMMUNITY REINVESTMENT ACT DESCRIPTIVE RATINGS AND EVALUATIONS
WHICH BECAME PUBLIC DURING THE MONTH
The following state-chartered institutions have Community Reinvestment Act Descriptive Ratings and Evaluations describing the basis for the Rating issued by the Division of Banks pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws chapter 167, section 14. The ratings, as set out in the statute, for a bank's record of meeting community credit needs are: Outstanding ("O"); High Satisfactory ("HS"); Satisfactory ("S"); Needs to Improve ("NI"); and Substantial Noncompliance ("SNC").
DATE OF | ||
BANK | RATING | EXAMINATION |
Boston Safe Deposit and Trust Company, Boston | O | 10/30/00 |
Hyde Park Savings Bank (The), Hyde Park | S | 11/13/00 |
MetroWest Bank, Framingham | HS | 10/15/00 |
Pressers Union Local 12 ILGWU Credit Union, Boston | S | 01/09/01 |
Southbridge Credit Union, Southbridge | HS | 11/14/00 |
St. Joseph Credit Union, Salem | S | 12/13/00 |
Winchester Savings Bank, Winchester | S | 11/29/00 |
TEMPORARY CHECK CASHER LICENSES
Hearings
Thursday, March 29, 2001 at 3:00 p.m.
Attleboro City Hall
Government Center, 77 Park Street
Attleboro, Massachusetts
Bay State Check Express, Inc., Attleboro, Massachusetts - permission to operate a check casher business at 1039 Washington Street, Attleboro, Massachusetts. Comment period ends Thursday, April 5, 2001.
Wednesday, April 4, 2001 at 3:00 p.m.
Springfield City Hall, Room 220
36 Court Street
Springfield, Massachusetts
Medina Financial, Inc., Springfield, Massachusetts - permission to operate a check casher business within Medina's Supermarket located at 2705 Main Street, Springfield, Massachusetts. Comment period ends Wednesday, April 11, 2001.
Applications Pending
Graham's Check Cashing, Inc., Springfield, Massachusetts - permission to operate a check casher business at 794 State Street, Springfield, Massachusetts. Comment period ends Tuesday, March 27, 2001.
APPLICATIONS TO SELL INSURANCE
Lowell Five Cent Savings Bank (The), Lowell - approved February 1, 2001
Central Co-operative Bank, Somerville - pending
City Savings Bank, Pittsfield - pending
Mansfield Co-operative Bank, Mansfield - pending
Norwood Co-operative Bank, Norwood - pending
radius financial group, inc., Braintree - pending
Miscellaneous
Official action was taken to delay the effective date of the Division of Banks' (the "Division") high cost mortgage loan regulations, 209 CMR 32.00 et seq. and 209 CMR 42.00 et seq. from January 22, 2001 to March 22, 2001. A public hearing to complete the process for delaying these regulations has been rescheduled from March 5, 2001 to March 12, 2001 at 10:00 a.m. at One South Station, Boston.
NEW SERVICE
PLEASE NOTE: The Division of Banks now offers email delivery of its publications, including the Monthly Activity Report. You now have the option of receiving the publication in an email addressed to you instead of by postal mail. Your participation is encouraged. To subscribe, simply send an email to:
dobactivityreport-subscribe@listserv.state.ma.us
If you need assistance or have questions, please contact Bernard N. Waxman at 617.956.1571.
For information relative to current Activity Reports please contact the Consumer Assistance Unit.