When the shutdowns and consolidations are completed in mid-summer, Fleet/Summit will have 446 branches in the Garden State, a 24% increase in branches for Summit customers, according to figures released by Fleet/Summit, and a 261% increase in outlets for Fleet customers. "Both Fleet and Summit customers will have more branches and ATM locations, as well as a broader product set," according to Robert B. Hedges, Jr., managing director of the Retail Banking Group for FleetBoston.

The merged bank promises that no jobs will be lost, although as many as 550 positions will be moved around. According to T. Joseph Semrod, Fleet's chairman in New Jersey and former Summit Bank chairman, "our branch employees have critical skill sets. They will be offered jobs with Fleet."

An interesting sidelight to the merger process is the way the closings were determined. The formula was threefold, according to Semrod: distances between branch locations, overlapping customer trade areas, and convenience and service features at the respective branches.

According to figures released by Fleet/Summit, the 80 branches being closed were an average of a half-mile from other Fleet and Summit branches. Specifically, 50 of them were a half-mile or less, and only one of the branches being closed was more than two miles from another branch of the merged bank.

Another aspect of the branch consolidation process is that the merged bank has reached an agreement with New Jersey Citizen Action, the largest consumer activist group in the state, not to shutter any branches located in low-income areas for at least four years. The markets involved include portions of Bayonne, Camden, Elizabeth, Freehold, Hackensack, Hoboken, Irvington, Jersey City, Lakewood, Morristown, New Brunswick, Newark, Roselle, Somerset, Trenton, Union and Union City.