By SALINA POST
WICHITA - Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ: EQBK), the Wichita-based holding company of Equity Bank, announced it has completed its merger with American State Bancshares, Inc. (“ASB”), the holding company of American State Bank & Trust Company in Wichita.
The merger includes two locations in Salina: 317 S. Santa Fe Avenue and 1661 S. Ohio Street.
In a news release, the company noted that it had consolidated the core banking system and digital banking platform and had completed local rebranding over the weekend.
“I’m thankful and appreciative of the diligent, focused, and collaborative efforts of our Equity Bank team, including our team members from American State Bank & Trust. We’re pleased to offer a brand that reflects our communities and our shared home of Kansas, and I’m pleased with the teams working together on one of the largest bank mergers in Kansas history,” Brad Elliott, chairman and CEO of Equity, said in a news release. “We continue to offer hometown banking expertise with sophisticated digital banking and commercial lending solutions, and we’ll continue to prioritize community service, innovation, integrity, and entrepreneurial spirit.”
Equity announced the merger with ASB on May 17, 2021. Following the completion of the merger, Equity now has approximately $5.0 billion in consolidated total assets and operates 67 locations in its four-state network in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma.
Equity’s Kansas franchise now includes seven full-service locations in the Wichita metropolitan area, including Augusta and Rose Hill, and former ASBT offices in Belleville, Concordia, Clyde, Garden City, Great Bend, Holcomb, Larned, Macksville, Salina, and St. John. Equity Bank ranks seventh in deposit market share in the Wichita metropolitan statistical area, and seventh in deposit market share among financial institutions in Kansas, according to FDIC deposit data presented by S&P Global as of June 30, 2021.