Wasatch Bank will merge with Zions First National Bank under a letter of intent signed Thursday.
Zions Bank was founded in 1873 and has 78 branches in Utah. Zions Bank had total assets of $3.264 billion on Dec. 31, 1992.Wasatch Bank, headquartered in Orem, has branches in American Fork, Lehi, Pleasant Grove and Santaquin. The bank was founded in 1972 and had assests of $68.3 million at the end of 1992.
Shareholders of Wasatch Bank's parent company, Wasatch Bancorp, will receive a "yet-to-be-determined number of common shares of Zions Bancorp in a `pooling interest' transaction designed to maintain the current investment basis of Wasatch shareholders," Zions First National Bank president Harris H. Simmons and Jackson Howard, chairman and president of Wasatch Bank, announced Thursday.
The merger is subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals.
Simmons said the planned merger would enhance Zions Bank's presence in northern Utah County. Zions Bank has 99 full-service offices in Utah, Nevada and Arizona.
"Wasatch Bank has done an especially fine job of financing residential construction and providing credit to small businesses and consumers in Utah County," Simmons said.
Howard said the merger will provide Wasatch Bank customers a "wider array of products and services with which to meet their banking and financial needs."