West Town Bank & Trust (WTWB) Announces Federal Approval of Holding Company

NORTH RIVERSIDE, Ill., Nov. 5, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- West Town Bank & Trust WTWB has received approval from the Federal Reserve and the FDIC to form a bank holding company which will be known as West Town Bancorp, Inc.  West Town Bancorp will become the sole shareholder of its subsidiary, West Town Bank & Trust.

"The formation of the holding company provides the flexibility needed in our bank capital structure to grow bank Tier 1 Capital with the issuance of holding company debt (rather than dilutive stock issuances) to fund our organic growth and our merger and acquisition strategies," said Eric Bergevin, President/CEO of West Town Bancorp and West Town Bank & Trust, "With return on equity regularly topping 15%, access to holding company debt at reasonable rates not only protects shareholder value, it enhances it."

About West Town Bank & Trust

West Town Bank & Trust is a North Riverside, IL based state chartered bank. The Bank provides banking services through its offices in Illinois and North Carolina and also maintains loan production offices in North Carolina, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Florida, Idaho and New Jersey. Its primary deposit products are checking, savings, and time certificate accounts, and its primary lending products are residential mortgage, commercial, and installment loans. Additionally, the Bank engages in mortgage banking activities and, as such, originates and sells one-to-four family residential mortgage loans in multiple states. The Bank's primary regulator is the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.

For more information, visit www.westtownbank.com.

Statement: This news release contains forward looking statements. Words such as "anticipates," " believes," "estimates," "expects," "intends," "should," "will," variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward looking statements. These statements reflect management's current beliefs as to the expected outcomes of future events and are not guarantees of future performance. These statements involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict with regard to timing, extent, likelihood and degree of occurrence. Therefore, actual results and outcomes may materially differ from what may be expressed or forecasted in such forward looking statements. Factors that could cause a difference include, among others: changes in the national and local economies or market conditions; changes in interest rates, deposit flows, loan demand and asset quality, including real estate and other collateral values; changes in banking regulations and accounting principles, policies or guidelines; and the impact of competition from traditional or new sources. These and other factors that may emerge could cause decisions and actual results to differ materially from current expectations. West Town Bank & trust takes no obligation to revise, update, or clarify forward looking statements to reflect events or conditions after the date of this release.

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SOURCE West Town Bank & Trust