Liberty Bank to shed 10% of its CT branches

Photo | CoStar A Liberty Bank branch in Bristol.

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By Matt Pilon

Middletown-based Liberty Bank has notified state regulators that it intends to close six of its 59 Connecticut branches, including two in Greater Hartford.

The closings, planned for October, touch most corners of the state. They include Liberty’s West Hartford branch at 1232 Farmington Ave. and its 774 Farmington Ave. branch in Bristol, according to the Department of Banking.

Liberty, which is the third largest Connecticut-based bank by deposits, also plans to shed branches in Essex, Beacon Falls, New London and Southbury.

Liberty has not owned the West Hartford branch for long. It added the location in 2019 as part of its $71 million acquisition of Simsbury Bank & Trust, but the location is just over a mile down the road from Liberty’s longstanding West Hartford Center location, which contains more than twice the deposits.

Liberty opened the Bristol branch in 2013 and as of last June had grown deposits there to about $41 million, according to the latest data available from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

“We are continuously evaluating all aspects of our business, including our branch network and ways to reinvest in the bank,” Liberty said in a statement.

The bank said it makes such decisions after weighing branch profitability, household and deposit growth, transaction volume and other factors like changing consumer habits and local competition.

While Liberty is closing some branches, it’s in the midst of a commercial lending push into the Hartford market and up and down the I-91 corridor.

Closure of brick-and-mortar branches has been a steady trend in Connecticut and beyond, due to the growth of online banking as well as a desire to cut expenses amid relatively low interest rates.

Since last summer, at least a half dozen banks have announced Connecticut branch consolidations, including Santander Bank, TD Bank, People’s United Bank, Webster Bank, Berkshire Bank and Citizens Bank.