PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The county's largest bank is getting bigger with the addition of 20 retail bank branches in New York.

Berkshire Bank, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hills Bancorp. Inc., has entered into a purchase-and-assumption agreement for bank branches from Bank of America. The branches are located in New York markets within or contiguous to markets currently served by Berkshire.

The acquired branches have approximately $640 million in total deposits and $5 million in loans. Both banks will be working to ensure a seamless transition for customer accounts; employees will transfer over to Berkshire Bank.

This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the commonwealth of Massachusetts and the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2014.

According to Berkshire, the acquisition will increase its total branch count to 94, and its New York branches to 37. Berkshire has $5.2 billion in assets.

Berkshire CEO Michael Daly said in a statement that the "transaction meets our financial criteria and is expected to contribute to our long-term strategic and financial goals."

Jefferies LLC was financial adviser to Berkshire and Luse Gorman Pomerenk & Schick P.C. was outside legal counsel. A presentation with additional information about the deposit acquisition will be posted on Berkshire's Investor Relations website.

Our banking neighbor across the street has a new name and new look. The Hoosac Bank is now MountainOne, along with Williamstown Savings and South Coastal. MountainOne Financial Partners brought its three banks under one charter late last year. Customers shouldn't see much change in its operations, but the 140-year-old bank on Main Street in North Adams had its trim painted and new signs and awnings put up. It also changed out our go-to temperature gauge to reflect the new name. You can still see the historic Hoosac Savings name etched into the building's stone.

Bob Maxwell

Anthony Hyte

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Greylock Federal Credit Union announced the promotion of two employees, Bob Maxwell to vice president of marketing services for Greylock Marketing Group and Anthony "Tony" Hyte to assistant

 vice president of branch development. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. (PRNewswire) — Berkshire Hills Bancorp Inc. (NYSE: BHLB) held its annual meeting of shareholders on Thursday, May 9, in Pittsfield.

Chairman, President and CEO Michael P. Daly summarized Berkshire's accomplishments in 2012. They included strong organic growth and team recruitment, along with the acquisitions of CBT and Beacon Federal. The year's initiatives produced improved profitability and resulted in a 29 percent increase in core earnings per share. Berkshire's 2012 stock returns exceeded 10 percent, and the quarterly cash dividend was increased by 6 percent, providing a yield of over 3 percent. Daly concluded with a summary of the encouraging prospects for Berkshire's further growth and development.

Shareholders approved all proposals which were presented at the meeting. These included:

• The election of three existing directors to new three-year terms: John B. Davies; Rodney C. Dimock;  and J. Williar Dunlaevy
•  The election of one new director to a three-year term: Laurie Norton Moffatt
• Approval of the Berkshire Hills Bancorp Inc. 2013 Equity Incentive Plan
• Approval of a non-binding proposal to give advisory approval of the company's executive compensation
• Ratification of the selection of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for fiscal 2013

BACKGROUND

Berkshire Hills Bancorp is the parent of Berkshire Bank. The company has approximately $5.2 billion in assets and 73 full service branch offices in Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut and Vermont providing personal and business banking, insurance and wealth management services.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This document may contain forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. There are several factors that could cause actual results to differ significantly from expectations described in the forward-looking statements. For a discussion of such factors, please see Berkshire's most recent reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Berkshire does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements made in this document.

ADAMS, Mass. — Adams Community Bank promoted three of its employees — Amy Giroux, Doreen Descoteau and Janice Adams. Additionally, Donna Halton was hired as senior vice president of commercial lending.