First Farmers Bank & Trust to acquire select BMO Harris Branches

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May 08, 2014, 09:30 ET

CONVERSE, Ind., May 8, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- First Farmers Financial Corporation (FFMR), parent company of First Farmers Bank & Trust, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire deposit relationships of nine BMO Harris Bank N.A. Indiana branches. The purchase includes deposit relationships at locations in Marion, Logansport, Terre Haute, Farmersburg, Sullivan, Clay City, Brazil, Carlisle and Shelburn, Indiana. First Farmers Bank & Trust will also acquire seven of the nine branches and retain the employees from all nine locations. The acquisition does not include any loans (other than overdraft lines of credit), commercial accounts, accounts with cash management services and certain other deposit accounts associated with those locations.

"First Farmers Bank & Trust continues to uphold the philosophy and principles of community banking in a variety of markets. These new locations are representative of markets that our organization has successfully served for generations and we are very confident that our products and style service will be well received," Gene Miles, President and Chief Executive Officer, First Farmers Bank & Trust.

As of February 2014, the branches had deposits of approximately $134 million. Subject to regulatory approvals, the transaction is expected to close in the latter part of 2014.

First Farmers Financial Corp (FFMR) is a $1.2 billion financial holding company headquartered in Converse, Indiana. First Farmers Bank & Trust has 24 offices throughout Cass, Grant, Hamilton, Howard, Huntington, Madison, Marshall, Miami, Johnson, Starke, Tipton, Vermillion, Vigo and Wabash counties in Indiana and 3 offices in Coles and Edgar counties in Illinois.