Kansas City’s two oldest mutual banks agree to merge

The $463 million First Federal Bank, Kansas City, Mo., and the $229 million Inter-State Federal Savings and Loan, Kansas City, Kan., agreed to merge on April 29. The new bank will take the First Federal name but maintain the older charter of Inter-State Federal which dates back to 1889. The combined institution will have 11 branch offices in Missouri and Kansas..First Federal President and CEO J.R. Buckner will remain president and CEO of the merged entity. Rick Merker, president of Inter-State Federal, will become Kansas market president for the combined company.."We've been making loans [through a loan production office in Kansas], but we don't have any retail deposit facilities over there," Buckner said. "This will really enhance our footprint and get us into a market we've wanted to be in on the retail side for many years.".Buckner said the organization intend to keep all the employees, although there will likely be some reorganization to maximize the benefits of the merger. There is also no intent to drop their status as a mutual bank..Buckner said aside from the geographic benefits of the merger, both organizations saw benefits in combining to become a much larger organization.."A larger asset base will allow us to have more earning assets to offset the growing cost of regulatory compliance," Buckner said. "The larger our size, the more capital we'll have and the more loans we can service. There are new rules that came out as a result of Basel III that limit loan servicing. As a mortgage bank, we service 90 percent of the loans we originate.".The combined bank will have $650 million in assets.