Flushing Financial to combine savings, commercial operations

Lake Success-based Flushing Financial Corp. said it would combine its Flushing Savings Bank and its commercial banking subsidiary, to reduce costs.

“There’ll be no discernible impact on the consumer, said John R. Buran, president and chief executive. “We’ll still be offering the same products to consumers and businesses as we did the day before we announced it.”

Flushing has 17 branches, most of them in Brooklyn and Queens, one in Manhattan and two in Nassau.

The bank said Thursday it had filed an application with the New York State Department of Financial Services to combine Flushing Savings Bank with Flushing Commercial Bank and rename the combined entity Flushing Bank. That will have the effect of converting the bank from a federally chartered savings bank to a New York State-chartered commercial bank.

The bank also filed a notice of the proposed combination and charter change with its primary federal regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and filed an application with respect to the combination with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

The transaction is expected to be completed in either the fourth quarter of this year or the first quarter of 2013.

Flushing Financial Corp. has $4.4 billion in consolidated assets.

Pictured, John R. Buran, president and chief executive of Flushing Financial Corp.