Banknorth Group Enters Insurance Agency Business in Connecticut; Announces Agency Purchase.Business/Banking Editors PORTLAND, Maine--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 28, 2000 Banknorth Group Inc. (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on :BKNG) will enter the insurance agency business in Connecticut through the purchase of The Watson Group in Wethersfield. Morse, Payson & Noyes Insurance (MPN MPN Master Promissory Note MPN Most Probable Number MPN Medical Provider Network MPN Mobil Producing Nigeria MPN Manufacturer's Part Number MPN Military Personnel, Navy MPN Mobile Private Network MPN Managed Private Network MPN Mode Partition Noise ), New England's largest independent insurance agency, has reached a definitive agreement to purchase Watson. Banknorth has owned MPN since 1997. Banknorth already provides banking services in north central Connecticut through GBT GBT Green Bank Telescope (Pocahontas County, West Virginia) GBT Gay/Bisexual/Transgender GBT Group on Basic Telecommunications GBT Ground-Based Transceiver GBT General Business Technology GBT Great Books Tutorial , a division of First Massachusetts Bank, another Banknorth subsidiary. "This acquisition continues our efforts to operate insurance agencies wherever we provide banking services," said William J. Ryan, Banknorth Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. "This is a key part of our strategy to offer our customers a full range of financial services The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. ." Watson provides a broad range of products and services in the areas of property and casualty insurance, risk management, employee benefits and financial services. Watson has 85 employees and annual premium volume of $120 million. The acquisition, when completed by year-end, will expand annual premium volume at MPN to $375 million. "We are pleased to join forces with Morse, Payson & Noyes and its parent company Banknorth," said Thomas A. Willsey, Watson President and Chief Executive Officer. "We expect to enhance the insurance opportunities of the Company's banking customers and to expand the insurance offerings we can provide our own current customers." Watson will continue to operate under its own name and management. "We are acquiring a great new partner for our growing presence in the New England New England, name applied to the region comprising six states of the NE United States—Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The region is thought to have been so named by Capt. insurance market," said James J. Kilbride, chairman and chief executive officer of MPN. "We are now by far the largest insurance broker in New England." Banknorth Group, headquartered in Portland, Maine, is an $18.5 billion multi-bank and financial services holding company. The Company operates banking subsidiaries in Maine, New Hampshire New Hampshire, one of the New England states of the NE United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts (S), Vermont, with the Connecticut R. forming the boundary (W), the Canadian province of Quebec (NW), and Maine and a short strip of the Atlantic Ocean (E). , Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont and upstate New York Upstate New York is the region of New York State north of the core of the New York metropolitan area. It has a population of 7,121,911 out of New York State's total 18,976,457. Were it an independent state, it would be ranked 13th by population. . In addition to banking and insurance services, the Company and its subsidiaries provide trust, investment and leasing services. |
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