Somers Ltd, the owners of Bermuda Commercial Bank, have announced that all regulatory and government approvals have been received for the sale of the bank.

The announcement was made this morning in a filing with the Bermuda Stock Exchange.

Somers said completion of the transaction “is expected to occur shortly and Somers will update shareholders upon completion”.

The deal for the sale of the entire issued share capital of BCB to Permanent Capital Holdings Ltd was first announced on February 5 last year. It was subject to regulatory and government approvals.

Permanent Capital, a New York investment firm, described itself at the time of the deal as “a socially oriented investor in financial-services companies”.

The firm said it intended to grow BCB into a “full-service commercial bank”, adding that it would provide “market-changing products” like competitive lending rates, bespoke services for key industries like reinsurance, and improved access through better technology including mobile banking.

About 70 people work at the bank, which is based in offices on Bermudiana Road, Hamilton.

When the deal was announced last year, Hubert Esperon, chief executive officer of BCB, said: “There are no job losses or changes anticipated.”