New London branch plans shut down

By Scott Bellile

New London’s Huntington Bank branch, 401 W. North Water St., will shut down at the end of September.

“On Sept. 29, Huntington is consolidating 38 branches and seven remote drive-ups in various markets,” Nicholas Pavlik, consumer communications manager for Huntington Bancshares, told the Press Star Monday, July 10.

New London is the only Wisconsin branch set to close. The other 37 branches are in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, Pavlik said.

“We reviewed branches and we looked at the customer traffic patterns, the transaction trends and proximity to nearby Huntington branch locations,” Pavlik said of the criteria used to justify New London’s closure.

Pavlik said after September, New London’s customers can continue to receive service at other nearby branches including Appleton (1935 E. Calumet St.), Winneconne (124 W. Main St.) and Oshkosh (2101 W. Ninth Ave.). Each is around 20 miles away.

“Their accounts will be unaffected with these branch closures,” Pavlik said. “There’s nothing that they need to do besides identify their closest branch and it’s business as usual for them.”

Affected employees can apply for jobs within the company, Pavlik said.

Pavlik said he did not know how many employees New London’s branch employs or details on the the future for the North Water Street building. New London’s employees are unauthorized to speak to news media.

The bank on North Water Street was previously FirstMerit Bank. Huntington Bancshares acquired FirstMerit Corp. last August for $3.4 billion.

Huntington Bancshares began announcing nationwide branch closures last year as the acquisition of FirstMerit was finalized.

Huntington’s New London branch received new signage and a facelift this past February. Customers learned through letters on June 30 that New London’s branch is among the latest wave of closures.

Founded in Columbus, Ohio in 1866, Huntington Bancshares operates around 1,000 offices around the U.S. As of April, Huntington Bancshares has $100 billion in assets, according to the company.