Harris N.A. recently notified Wisconsin officials they plan to lay off back-office and operations employees at Ozaukee Bank and Merchants and Manufacturers Bancorp. Inc., which the bank acquired earlier this year.
Harris N.A., the Chicago-based financial institution that purchased Ozaukee Bank and Merchants and Manufacturers Bancorporation Inc. in February, recently notified the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development that it will cut 95 jobs at the two acquired banks in October.
Harris plans to lay off 27 of Ozaukee Bank’s workers and 68 employees at MMBC. Harris paid about $320 million for the two banks earlier this year, and the layoffs are a result of the integration of the banks into Harris, a company spokeswoman said.
"As with most acquisitions, we’ve identified areas of overlap between Harris and Ozaukee Bank and MMBC," said Chris Nardella, Harris spokesperson. "As a result, we are in the process of eliminating duplicate positions, and that will result in some workplace reductions, mostly in the operations and corporate centers."
Thomas Bolger, president of Harris Bank Wisconsin, told SBT that Harris plans to convert Ozaukee Bank and the MMBC banks into Harris-branded banks on Sept. 8. To read more about the bank’s conversion process and future growth plans, click here.
