Posted March 06, 2020

SmartFinancial, the Tennessee-based parent company of SmartBank, has completed the acquisition of Progressive Financial Group, initially announced in October last year.

In a statement released today, SmartFinancial said the combined new entity had total assets of $2.7 billion as of December 31, 2019.

SmartFinancial’s president and chief executive officer Billy Carroll said the acquisition would grow the group’s presence in Tennessee, including expanding into the Upper Cumberland region in the center of the state.

He added that Progressive’s insurance business was an important new line of operations for the group that would provide “greater resources to our clients” once fully integrated.

The bank’s track record of serving a student customer base was also a factor in the acquisition, according to Miller Welborn, SmartFinancial’s chairman, with the company having college customers in Chattanooga, Knoxville, Murfreesboro and Tuscaloosa. Progressive adds Cookeville, home of Tennessee Tech University, to this list.

Ottis Phillips, chief executive of Progressive, has now joined the SmartFinancial board of directors. Speaking at time of the announcement of the merger in October, Phillips said the deal was “a win-win for all parties involved”.

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