Bridge Bancorp and Dime Community complete merger, BNB Bank takes Dime name

The merger of BNB Bank and Dime Community Bank has been completed, the parent companies of the two banks announced this week.

BNB has taken the Dime name, effective Feb. 1.

Bridge Bancorp Inc. and Dime Community Bancshares Inc. entered into merger agreement in July. The all-stock deal was valued at $489 million.

The combined company, trading on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker “DCOM,” has over $12 billion in assets, over $9 billion in total deposits, and over 60 branches spanning Manhattan to Montauk, Dime said in a press release.

BNB Bank opened a full-service branch on West Main Street in March 2018, entering a market bank officials said they’d been interested in for years. Banking regulations prevented BNB from opening a branch in Riverhead because it was the headquarters of Suffolk County National Bank. The regulatory restriction was lifted when SCNB was acquired by Connecticut-based People’s United Bank in March 2018.

As a result of the BNB-Dime merger, customers will not experience any immediate changes to their accounts, loan payment terms, access to account information through mobile and online banking applications, use of debit cards, or access to ATMs, the bank said in a press release.

The company said it expects to combine its banking technology platforms by early in the second quarter of 2021 without any disruption to customers. Customers can find additional information at Dime.com/merger.

Kevin O’Connor, former president and chief executive officer of Bridge, is now chief executive officer of the combined bank.

“The completion of this transaction unites two iconic New York community banks creating the premier community-based business bank in our region,” O’Connor said in a joint statement with the company’s executive chairman Kenneth Mahon.

“Our enhanced branch footprint and increased capital base will allow the combined bank to better serve the needs of our customers across the greater New York and Long Island marketplaces,” O’Connor and Mahon said. “We are very excited to begin this new chapter in our institutions’ histories,”