Shelton HSBC Bank Branch Among 195 Being Sold to First Niagara

HSBC’s Shelton branch is among 195 that the bank plans to sell to First Niagara.

The Shelton location, at 704 Bridgeport Ave., is among six in Fairfield County proposed for sale. The other Fairfield County branches are in Ridgefield, Fairfield (Post Road and Black Rock Turnpike locations), Monroe and Wilton.

In a conference call Monday with reporters, First Niagara CEO John Koelmel called the Hudson Valley market expansion "a real sold base and foundation."

The deal was announced Sunday afternoon by HSBC, and is being done to scale back its retail banking operations and shift its priorities, according to its announcements of the transactions. In total, the deal is worth about $1 billion, or a 6.67-percent premium of the deposit value of the branches at stake, as of May 31, the bank announced. The total amount of deposits is about $15 billion, according to HSBC.

While HSBC announced that it expects the deal to close in early 2012, no firm dates for branches to change to First Niagara are set, it explained in a primer. Account holders at affected branches, including savings, checking, online banking and credit cards, will automatically see their services transferred to First Niagara once the transition is made.

Most of the locations up for sale are in upstate New York, according to the list of branches, but many of them are in the Hudson Valley, including four in Westchester County, nine in Rockland County and two in Putnam County.

Koelmel expects divestitures of some western New York branches for antitrust regulatory reasons, as well as some consolidations.

Regulatory approvals are still needed for the deal, according to HSBC.

To read the full list of stores being sold, click here.