Mechanics & Farmers Bank, the century-old Black-owned institution rooted in Durham’s Parrish Street "Black Wall Street," is set to shed its historic name. The bank will merge with Columbia-based Optus Bank and eventually rebrand local branches under the Optus banner. Announced July 22, the deal will create a roughly $1.27-$1.3 billion institution with 10 branches across the Carolinas. M&F’s president and CEO James H. Sills III will lead the combined company and says he will remain based in Durham, even as a defining piece of the city’s Black business legacy enters a new era.
Merger terms and scale
According to a press release from Optus Financial Corporation, M&F Bancorp will merge into Optus, creating a combined institution that will operate about 10 branches with approximately $1.27 billion in assets as of March 31, 2026. M&F shareholders may receive up to $53.30 per common share in cash, putting the total transaction value above $105 million. Both boards have unanimously signed off on the agreement, which they expect to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, pending shareholder approvals and the usual regulatory green lights.
Historic roots and local significance
M&F dates back to 1907, when it was founded as Mechanics and Farmers Bank and helped fuel the rise of Durham’s Parrish Street, widely known as "Black Wall Street." Axios reported that the M&F name will gradually disappear from local signage, with Optus branding rolling out over roughly two years. The News & Observer has detailed how the bank nearly collapsed after the Great Recession, only to rebound following renewed investor interest and a wave of support after the 2020 protests.
Financial snapshot
M&F Bancorp’s first-quarter filing shows period-end assets of $517.5 million and total deposits of $377.0 million as of March 31, 2026. The same OTC Markets report lists period-end loans near $273.4 million and notes that the company entered the transaction with strong capital ratios.
What the merger could mean locally
Sills told Axios that the combined bank will roughly double the size of the largest loan it can underwrite, from about $11 million to nearly $25 million. That, he said, should translate into larger deals for small businesses, nonprofits and affordable housing projects that might previously have been out of reach. Both banks are pitching the transaction as a way to scale up their mission-driven lending. The announcement described the deal as one of the largest pairings of Minority Depository Institutions and said the merged entity will be the largest African American-owned bank in the country.
What happens next
The merger still has a few hurdles to clear. Shareholders will need to vote, and regulators will have to sign off before the anticipated fourth-quarter 2026 close. In the meantime, the companies say they will file the necessary proxy materials and other documents while keeping their existing branches open and operating under current names, according to the Optus release.
Durham and the loss of a local headquarters
One of the quieter implications of the deal is geographic. The holding company’s headquarters will move to Columbia, meaning North Carolina will lose a locally headquartered bank that has been intertwined with Durham’s identity for more than a century. The regional stakes of that shift were underscored by coverage in the Triangle Business Journal.
For customers and community leaders in the Triangle, the looming question is how a Columbia-based parent will balance its broader footprint with promises to preserve M&F’s historic mission. Executives on both sides insist the merger is designed to keep that mission intact while giving the bank more muscle to lend. As shareholder materials roll out and regulators weigh in over the coming months, Durham will be watching closely to see how much of Black Wall Street’s banking legacy carries through under the Optus name.
