BankTrust to become Trustmark March 23
Two Demopolis bank branches officially have a new name as the much-anticipated merger between BankTrust and Trustmark came to fruition last week.
Signage has been posted indicating Trustmark’s presence at the some 50 former BankTrust locations throughout Alabama and the panhandle of Florida. The conversion, however, will not go into full effect until March 23.
“The name change is visible and it should be very transparent to the customer. There will be a few accounts that account number and log numbers we will change,” Demopolis BankTrust president Charles Singleton said of how the merger will affect BankTrust customers. “The customer should receive a packet here over the next couple of weeks that basically outlays the changes for them. All the customers will get new Trustmark debit cards. PIN numbers will stay the same, so they won’t have to worry about getting new PIN numbers.”
Additionally, the Trustmark brand brings with it a larger base as well as a high return on assets that promise to enhance the capabilities and services of the former BankTrust branches.
“I think the big difference is the variety of service that they’ll have to offer, some of the services that BankTrust didn’t have by being a bigger bank. They are about a $9 billion bank and they’ll be about a $12 billion bank now that we’re part of Trustmark. From the trust side of the banking services, they’ve got a really large trust department and that’s going to be a big asset for the Alabama markets. There’s the iPhone app that’s really popular that we didn’t offer in the past. It’s going to really be a good plus for us, for the customers and for the former BankTrust banks in the Alabama market,” Singleton said. “The way the economy has been over the last three or four years, if you look at Trustmark’s earnings, they’ve been able to provide solid, continuous earnings. The return on assets has been around 1.2, which is good when you compare it to the industry, especially in these financial conditions that everybody has been facing over the past four years. Their numbers have been very strong and consistent for their shareholders.”
The plan is to have new signs and the Trustmark logo posted at each branch including the two Demopolis branches prior to the March 23 conversion weekend.
March 23 will also mark changeover from the BankTrust website to the Trustmark online platform.
“The actual platform will be a little bit different. All of the current BankTrust customers will go to the Trustmark internet banking. But the concept will be the same,” Singleton said of the new digital banking services that will also include an iPhone banking app. “It will have online bill pay. They will be able to transfer money to and from accounts. All that will be similar except for maybe a different platform to look at on the system. Same features, same services.”