United Community Banks Inc. closed its merger Tuesday with Palmetto Bancshares Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary, The Palmetto Bank.
Palmetto Bank will continue to operate under the Palmetto Bank brand name until conversion to United’s operating systems, which is expected to occur in February 2016.
After conversion, it will operate under the brand name of United Community Bank. Until the conversion, Palmetto Bank customers will continue to use their existing products and services.
Palmetto Bank operates 25 branches in the Upstate, and at June 30 had $1.2 billion in assets, $977 million in deposits and $824 million in loans.
United is based in Blairsville, Ga., and has $9.4 billion in assets. The company operates 133 offices in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.
Samuel Erwin, chairman, president and CEO, and Lee Dixon, chief risk and chief operating officer of Palmetto Bank, will join the leadership team of United.
