GARDINER – Arthur C. Markos, president of Gardiner Savings Institution, F.S.B., announced last Thursday that the process required for a name change has been completed. The new name is “Savings Bank of Maine.” The change was formally approved at the bank’s annual meeting Wednesday, Sept. 19.
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
FORMERLY FIRST CITIZENS BANK, a division of Gardiner Savings Institution, F.S.B., the bank now has a new name. Arthur C. Markos, president of Gardiner Savings Institution, announced last week that the new name is “Savings Bank of Maine.” Markos said that wherever practical, the name of each community will precede the Savings Bank of Maine name. Locally, the bank is now Presque Isle Savings Bank of Maine.
“With the formal acceptance of our new name,” Markos said, “we are acknowledging a new ‘footprint’ stretching from northern to downeast and midcoast Maine along with the long history of serving the central part of the state. This new designation is an appropriate recognition of the areas we now serve as a result of mergers and acquisitions that have increased our presence in the state.
“Rest assured that the same philosophies that have existed at our bank since its founding in 1834 will remain in place. We will never forget where we came from and we will continue those practices that have been important in the communities we serve,” he said. “In fact, we have made a decision that wherever practical, the name of each community will precede the Savings Bank of Maine name. In our core area of central Maine, the name ‘Gardiner’ will be included, while those locations outside the core area will be recognized by inserting the name of each community on signage, in advertising and other displays that lend themselves to local designation.”
Markos noted “… the bank’s most important assets are the local residents and businesses that use our services. We don’t intend to forget those ties and we will remain a ‘community bank,’ continuing to ‘treat customers fairly, every day, every month, every year,’ just as we have since 1834.”
A name change committee is coordinating the installation of new signage at the bank’s branches, as well as necessary changes to the bank’s Web site and numerous printed items. Customers can continue to use credit, debit, ATM cards, checks and other materials until they are contacted and provided with replacements. Account numbers will remain the same.
While the Web site designation will be changed to “savingsbankofmaine.com,” access will continue to be available using both the new and the former titles, but, on entering the site, users will see the new name.
With nearly $1 billion in assets, the Gardiner-based bank now has 28 full service branches, the most recent additions coming from First Citizens Bank and Calais Federal Savings Bank with branches in Aroostook, Penobscot and Washington counties.
