Trustmark to buy Alabama’s Reliance Bank for $25.6 million

Published 8:50 pm Monday, November 14, 2016

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi-based Trustmark Corp. is buying the parent of Alabama-based Reliance Bank for $25.6 million in cash.

Trustmark and RB Bancorp. of Athens, Alabama, announced the deal Monday.

The move strengthens Trustmark’s position in Alabama by giving it offices in the Huntsville area for the first time.

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Trustmark says it plans to complete the purchase by June. Trustmark says the seven-branch bank, with $210 million in assets, will add to profits next year.

With $13.2 billion in assets, Trustmark has 194 offices in Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee and Texas.

It’s the ninth-largest bank in Alabama, with 1.3 percent of all deposits.

Reliance is the 11th-largest bank in the Huntsville metro area, with 2.4 percent of deposits.

Trustmark CEO Gerald Host says the bank was attracted to Huntsville’s rapid growth.