First Niagara to close nine branches in Rochester area | News

From our news partners at the Rochester Business Journal

First Niagara Financial Group Inc. expects to complete its acquisition of HSBC Bank USA N.A. on May 18, after which nine First Niagara Bank N.A. or HSBC branches in the Rochester market will be closed, it announced Friday.

First Niagara will consolidate 34 branches with HSBC branches statewide, and one in Connecticut, after acquiring 195 HSBC retail branches in Upstate New York and southern Connecticut.

In the Rochester market, bank officials said, the following consolidations will occur:

- The HSBC branch at 3740 W. Henrietta Road will close and consolidate with the First Niagara branch at 1000 Hylan Drive,
- HSBC branch at 762 Joseph Ave. will consolidate into the HSBC branch at 70 Lyell Ave.,
- HSBC branch at 1940 Monroe Ave. will consolidate into the First Niagara branch at 1655 Monroe Ave.,
- HSBC branch at 2362 Lyell Ave. will consolidate into the First Niagara branch at 12 Spencerport Road,
- First Niagara branch at 4180 W. Ridge Road will consolidate into the HSBC branch  at 2791 Ridge Road W.,
- First Niagara branch at 2079 Fairport-Nine Mile Road will consolidate into the HSBC branch at 2155 Penfield Road,
- First Niagara branch at 3140 Monroe Ave. will consolidate into the HSBC branch at 3225 Monroe Ave.,
- First Niagara branch at 1000 Ridge Road E. will consolidate into the HSBC branch at 2255 Ridge Road E. and
- First Niagara branch at 8 Exchange Boulevard will consolidate into the HSBC branch at 19 W. Main St.

In addition, First Niagara plans to sell 12 HSBC branches in the Rochester market to KeyBank N.A. by June 30, and seven HSBC or First Niagara branches to Community Bank N.A., and four branches to Financial Institutions Inc.'s Five Star Bank in the third quarter.

"Given the multifaceted nature of this transaction, we haven't been able to give our customers the level of information that we would typically provide," said Mark Rendulic, First Niagara's executive vice president of retail banking, in a statement.

"But we are pleased to now begin to regularly do that with the appropriate and necessary clarity as to what this transaction means to them in the weeks and months ahead."

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