Carolina Financial Corporation, the parent company of Crescom Bank, and West Virginia-based United Bankshares announced a forthcoming merger of the two companies Monday.

Locally, Crescom maintains three branches, two in Washington and one in Chocowinity. In an interview Monday, Carolina Financial CEO Jerry Rexroad shared what the merger will mean for local branches and customers.

Looking at the overall Crescom network, Rexroad said there is no overlap between United Bank and Crescom and that the company is generally expecting to maintain its existing network of branches.

Those branches will continue to operate under the Crescom name until the merger closes sometime in the second quarter of 2020, he added. After the merger is finalized, Crescom branches will gradually be converted to United Bank branches.

From a customer standpoint, Rexroad said the merger will offer existing Crescom customers a variety of new services, including trust and wealth management options and a variety of new lending products.

Rexroad acknowledged that some customers experienced difficulties during a 2017 merger between Crescom and Washington-based First South Bank. Among the issues at the time were difficulties activating new debit/credit cards, problems linking business accounts and long waits for customer service to resolve the issues.

Moving forward with the new merger, Rexroad says the companies will be mindful of the lessons of the 2017 merger in order to make the transition to United Bank as easy as possible. He also pointed out that United Bankshares has considerable experience overseeing and managing mergers, with 31 successful acquisitions under its belt.

The combined organization will hold approximately $25 billion in assets, ranking in the top 35 largest banks in the country, according to a press release on the merger. All told, the combined company will have more than 200 locations when the merger is complete, the release says.

“We are partnering with a bank that has a strong community banking culture, along with the resources of a larger institution. We believe that United is the very best partner to create the most trusted community bank in the communities we serve,” Rexroad said in the release.