Bogalusa's Whitney Bank to be sold to The First

While Hancock Bank's purchase of Whitney Bank has now received approval from stockholders of both institutions as well as the Justice Department and Federal Reserve Bank, there were some interesting stipulations.

First among them was that Whitney must sell eight locations — including Bogalusa's Columbia Street office — to gain JD approval. Hattiesburg, Miss.-based The First has agreed to purchase all eight locations.

The First currently serves 12,500 customers and has $540 million in assets at its 10 locations. The Whitney Bank branches have more than 15,000 customers and the Bogalusa branch held deposits of $46.7 million as of June 30, 2010.

Next, as part of the initial deal, announced in December, Hancock will switch branding on all of its Louisiana branches to Whitney, while Whitney's branches in Mississippi, Alabama and Florida will carry the Hancock logo.

While no official announcement has been made, the Franklinton newspaper reported that bank employees expect that community's Whitney location to be closed and operations folded into the current Hancock facility. Both banks are located on Cleveland Street.

The last major change is that Hancock will move its headquarters from Gulfport, Miss. to New Orleans, although much of the banks operations department will stay on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

(Published first at http://www,wpnewsblog,blogspot.com)