1st Financial Services, the parent company of North Carolina-based Mountain 1st Bank & Trust, has been notified by AB&T Financial (AB&T) that it had chosen to terminate the agreement and plan of merger between the two companies. It was pursuant to provisions of the agreement which permitted either party to terminate if the proposed merger of AB&T into 1st Financial was not completed by September 30, 2009.
Gregory Gibson, CEO of 1st Financial, said: “Our merger with AB&T was not completed by September 30 because required regulatory approvals had not been obtained, and, in light of the dramatic changes over the past year in the bank regulatory environment and regulators’ policies and procedures for the review and approval of applications, it was not clear when or if our application would be approved.”
