Citizens Financial Group Vice President for Retail and Business Banking Dana Drago said in a statement that the sale of these few branches in the Adirondack region is a strategic business decision to realign its distribution network.

"We will continue to expand our core franchise in larger metropolitan portions of New York state, which continues to grow. The branches being sold represent one percent of our 1,600 total branches and one-half percent of our total deposits," she said.

The agreement calls for Community Bank to acquire about $135 million in loans and $630 million in deposits at a blended deposit premium of 12 percent.

Community Bank System has $4.7 billion in assets and 140 customer facilities across upstate New York, where it operates as Community Bank N.A., and Northeastern Pennsylvania, where it is known as First Liberty Bank and Trust.

Citizens Bank Group is a $160 billion commercial bank holding company headquartered in Providence, R.I. Through its subsidiaries it has more than 1,600 branches and 24,000 employees.

Citizens Financial Group is owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland Group. It is one of the 10 largest commercial banking companies in the United States as ranked by assets and deposits.

dheath@pressrepublican.com