New shared bank identity supports Company’s growing Family of Brands while preserving local brands, leadership and relationships
Merchants & Marine Bancorp, Inc. (OTCQX: MNMB) (the “Company”) today announced that its wholly owned bank subsidiary, Merchants & Marine Bank, will change its legal name to TownBridge Bank, effective September 28, 2026.
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TownBridge Organization Chart
The name change does not reflect a sale, merger, acquisition, or change in ownership or leadership. Instead, TownBridge Bank establishes a shared bank charter identity for the Company’s growing Family of Brands while allowing its community banking brands to retain the local names, leadership, and relationships they have built within the communities they serve.
Beginning September 28, the Company’s community banking brands will operate as:
- Merchants & Marine Bank, a division of TownBridge Bank
- Mississippi River Bank, a division of TownBridge Bank
- Farmers-Merchants Bank, a division of TownBridge Bank
Beginning September 28, the Company’s ancillary brands will operate as:
- Canvas Mortgage, a division of TownBridge Bank
- CannaFirst Financial, a division of TownBridge Bank
- Voyager Lending, a division of TownBridge Bank
Clients will begin seeing the TownBridge Bank name phased into legal and regulatory references in the days and weeks following the effective date. The Company’s individual brands will otherwise continue operating as they do today, and clients can expect to see the same familiar brands, locations, bankers, and local leadership teams they know and trust.
“TownBridge represents an important next step in the evolution of our company, but it doesn’t change who we are or how we serve our communities,” said Clayton Legear, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Merchants & Marine Bancorp, Inc. & TownBridge Bank. “We believe deeply in hometowns, small towns and Main Streets, and in the value of local bankers who know the people, businesses and communities they serve. TownBridge gives our Family of Brands a clearer common identity and a stronger foundation from which to continue growing.”
Historically, Merchants & Marine Bank has served two roles within the organization: as a local community banking brand in its Mississippi and Alabama markets, and as the legal bank charter supporting the Company’s other banking brands. As the Company has expanded its Family of Brands across multiple markets and multiple states, TownBridge creates a neutral shared charter identity that allows each community banking brand to operate equally as a division of TownBridge Bank.
The TownBridge name also reflects the Company’s longstanding community banking focus and philosophy. “Town” honors the hometowns and communities the Company’s brands serve and carries forward the ethos behind Merchants & Marine Bank’s longtime identity as “Hometown People That You Know.” “Bridge” represents the connections community bankers build among families, businesses, capital, opportunity, and the communities around them.
“Great community banks are deeply connected to the places they call home, and we believe that is something worth preserving,” Legear continued. “Our goal is to build a different kind of community banking company – one that combines the strength, resources and expertise of a larger organization with the local leadership, local decision-making, relationships and community focus that make great community banks special. TownBridge gives us an identity built to carry this model into the future; strengthening the communities we serve today while creating opportunities to serve new communities in the years ahead.”
TownBridge Bank will continue to be governed by the bank charter’s existing Board of Directors and led by the existing Corporate Executive Leadership Team that has overseen the Company’s sustained growth and development of its Family of Brands strategy. The Company’s ownership structure is unchanged, and Merchants & Marine Bancorp, Inc. will remain the parent company of TownBridge Bank.
As a next step, the Company intends to seek shareholder approval at its 2027 Annual Meeting of Shareholders to align the Merchants & Marine Bancorp, Inc. name with the TownBridge identity, subject to applicable requirements.
The TownBridge Bank name change itself will not require clients to take any action or change how they bank with the Company’s brands. Account and routing numbers will not change as a result of the name change, and clients may continue using their existing checks, cards, brand websites, and digital banking access as they do today.
Additional information about TownBridge Bank is available at TownBridge.bank.
About Merchants & Marine Bancorp, Inc.
Merchants & Marine Bancorp, Inc. (OTCQX: MNMB) is the parent company of TownBridge Bank, a Mississippi chartered community bank serving the Gulf South region. TownBridge Bank was originally founded as Merchants & Marine Bank in 1899, and the bank was reborn in 1932 during the middle of the worst economic disaster in the history of the United States: The Great Depression.
The Bank offers banking services to customers in Southern Mississippi and Coastal Alabama under its legacy Merchants & Marine Bank brand, in Southeastern Louisiana through its Mississippi River Bank brand, and in the Acadiana Region of Louisiana through its Farmers-Merchants Bank brand. It offers mortgage financing through its Canvas Mortgage brand, cannabis banking through its CannaFirst Financial brand, and access to government-guaranteed credit through its Voyager Lending brand. It provides bank operational, risk, and support services through its Community of Resources bank services brand.
Forward-looking statements are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Any forward-looking statement made in this release is subject to the safe harbor protections set forth in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned against placing undue reliance on such statements. Actual results may differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.
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