Local customers of Sunflower Bank may see a name change in the future.

Salina-based Sunflower Bank announced it has reached a deal to merge with Colorado-based First Western Financial Inc., the companies announced Tuesday. Company leaders, however, said they haven’t decided what the new name of the enterprise will be. The deal is expected to be finalized in the first quarter of 2015.

The deal will create a banking and investment company with about $2.5 billion in banking assets and about $5.5 billion in trust and investment assets. Sunflower Bank — which operates a Lawrence branch near Quail Crest Place and Wakarusa Drive in West Lawrence — is the bigger banking operator in the deal, with about $1.7 billion in assets. But First Western Financial operates a sizable wealth management business that has about $4.8 billion in investment assets. The combined entity will have 45 offices in Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Wyoming, Arizona, and California.

“We found the merger appealing because we are both strong, and we both have our own strengths,” said Mark Grant, senior vice president of corporate marketing for Sunflower Bank. “We are confident we’ll find ways to complement each other and continue our growth.”

Grant said Sunflower likely will offer enhanced investment services to its customers once the deal is finalized.

“Overall, we really just see this deal as improving what we’re already doing,” Grant said.

Terms of the merger were not disclosed, but the new company will operate with a board that includes members of both the Sunflower board and the First Western board. Mollie Hale Carter, chair and CEO of Sunflower, will serve as the executive chairman of the holding company. Scott Wylie, chair and CEO of First Western, will serve as the chair and CEO of the combined banking and investment subsidiary.

The company for the time being will have dual headquarters in Salina and Denver. Grant said both banks initially would keep their current names, but he said the prospects for a more unifying brand name would be considered after the merger is completed.