The Selma Times-Journal

The term “sign of change” took a literal meaning for one local bank.

People traveling along Broad Street can now see the changes that are taking place at Peoples Bank and Trust Company as the bank converges with BankTrust, a subsidiary of BancTrust Financial Group, Inc., based in Mobile.

This weekend, the two banks’ systems will converge and what people know as Peoples Bank and Trust Company will be BankTrust by morning Monday, Dec. 17.

According to Peoples Bank spokeswoman Roberta Leach, the branches on Highland Avenue near Selma Mall and on West Dallas Avenue, known as the Satterfield branch, will be closed Dec. 15 due to the changes. The banks are usually open on Saturday mornings.

Debit cards, credit cards, and ATMs should work normally over the weekend.

Online banking services will not be available Saturday and Sunday, but telephone banking services will be available.

Leach said beginning sometime between tomorrow afternoon and Friday morning, persons who visit the Peoples Bank and Trust website at http://www.peoplesbt.com will be automatically redirected to the site http://www.banktrustonline.biz. Beginning Monday, banking services will be available through the BankTrust website.

Direct deposits should process normally on their scheduled payment dates.

Peoples Bank customers will be able to continue using their current checks, debit and credit cards as before. When checks are reordered, they will have the BankTrust logo on them, and reissued cards will come through BankTrust as well.

Ed Livingston, president and CEO of Peoples Bank and Trust Company, said he tested the ATMs today to make sure they were in working order. The banks’ merger team will test the system all weekend to ensure everything works normally.

Livingston said the convergence should not be complicated as the two companies use the same computer system.

“Beginning Monday, the bank will be open as BankTrust, and we are excited about it,” Leach said.