Texas's Citizens Bank completes merger with Texas National Bank, forming $1.3B lender

What's the deal? Kilgore-based Citizens BankDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and Jacksonville's Texas National BankDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → complete their merger on October 26, operating under the Citizens Bank name. The combined bank will serve East and Southeast Texas through about 20 offices, with parent East Texas Financial CorporationDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → reporting combined assets of $1.3 billion as of December 31, 2025.

Why now? The operational merger follows East Texas Financial Corporation's earlier acquisition of Texas National BancorporationDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, which received all required regulatory approvals. The two banks had run independently until this fourth-quarter 2026 combination.

What each side brings: Citizens Bank, chartered in 1949, runs 11 offices across towns including Bryan, Humble, Kilgore, Tyler, and The Woodlands. Texas National Bank, founded in 1985, adds nine offices in Bullard, Jacksonville, Lindale, Longview, Lufkin, Marshall, Rusk, and Tyler.

What changes for customers? Little, for now. Customers keep their existing branches, checks, debit cards, and online banking, and can transact at any of the combined offices.

"Community banking is about people," said John Mills, president and CEO of Citizens Bank. "It's about knowing our customers, understanding our communities, and being there when it matters."

The signal: The deal is a local-market expansion, not a headline-grabbing bank tie-up. It fits a broader pattern of community-bank consolidation across Texas — recent examples include Legend BankDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →'s purchase of Graham Savings and Cornerstone Capital's acquisition of Peoples Bank of Lubbock — as smaller lenders pursue scale and wider branch networks.

Read more: star-telegram.com

Image credit: Generated with Gemini