MOUNT CARMEL - Frank S. Morrison, president and CEO of The Union National Bank of Mount Carmel, announced that after 106 years of operating as a national bank, it has converted to a Pennsylvania state chartered bank and trust company, to be regulated by the Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities under the name UNB Bank.
In a statement issued Thursday, Morrison said the board of directors believe a state charter will provide a defined geographical financial community area that "will not find us lumped in with banks in areas outside of Pennsylvania where the subprime lending, which led to the financial crisis, arose."
He said nothing will change for customers in the operation of the bank.
"We will have the same competent and courteous staff. We will offer the same products and the same FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) insurance," Morrison said.
He emphasized the change is to how and by whom the bank is governed and regulated.
"We will be governed by the Pennsylvania Banking Code rather than the United States Code. We will be regulated by the Pennsylvania Department of Banking regulators rather than those of the Office of the Comptroller of Currency," he said.
Additionally, the bank will be co-supervised by FDIC.
Morrison said it came down to the basic question of where does a $130 million bank belong. According to the Financial Management Consulting Group's Pennsylvania Bank Performance Report, UNB Bank is ranked 159th out of 199 reporting banks in asset size.
"That statistic alone shows that we do not want to stand aside of Bank of America, Citibank, J.P. Morgan, Wells Fargo, for comparison," he said. "We are a Main Street bank, not a Wall Street bank."
The same report shows UNB is ranked 28th in the "all-important credit quality, a point of which we are truly proud," Morrison said. "We are a well-capitalized bank at 9.50 percent with strong liquidity."
He said the bank's goal is "safety and soundness, and our shareholders and customers will continue to have this."
Morrison thanked Secretary of Banking and Securities Glenn E. Moyer and his staff, including Joseph A. Moretz, manager of corporate applications, for their professionalism, guidance and expediency in the conversion process.
UNB Bank is headquartered in Mount Carmel with a branch in Numidia.