Liberty Bank merges with First Tuskegee Bank

NEW ORLEANS — A minority-owned New Orleans bank has bought First Tuskegee Bank, which originated in 1894 as a building and loan association housed in a classroom at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.

Liberty Bank and Trust Co. says the bank's first acquisition in Alabama continues 10 years of rapid expansion.

Liberty Bank announced in 2013 that it planned to buy the $60 million Alabama bank. Louisiana regulators approved the deal in December.

First Tuskegee's website says the bank has two offices in Montgomery and one in Tuskegee, where it was created as Tuskegee Cooperative Building and Loan Association. Signs at the three offices will be changed over the weekend, and they'll open Monday as Liberty Bank branches.

Becoming part of Liberty Bank will let First Tuskegee expand services and get the latest banking technology, First Tuskegee President Neill Wright said.

Liberty Bank was founded in 1972. The statement says it has grown from $2 million to more than $600 million and is among the nation's three largest African-American owned financial institutions.

It also operates in Texas, Illinois, Michigan, Kansas and Missouri.