Ex-bank director settles charges

WASHINGTON – A former director of Banknorth Group has been permanently barred from serving as an officer or director of any publicly traded company in a settlement with federal regulators of charges of illegal insider trading in Massachusetts bank stocks.

In a settlement announced Thursday by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Allen Glick also agreed to pay $275,253 in civil penalties, restitution and interest to resolve the SEC’s allegation that he tipped off associates to prospective acquisitions involving the Massachusetts banks before they became publicly known.

Glick breached his fiduciary duties as a director in disclosing the nonpublic information, the SEC said in a lawsuit filed in federal court in Boston.

Brian Arsenault, a spokesman for Portland-based Banknorth, said that Glick left the board of directors last April. The bank, the largest New England-based bank, cooperated with the SEC’s investigation, Arsenault said.

Glick’s attorney, Richard Swanson of New York, said his client “is relieved to be able to put the matter behind him. It was very draining both financially and emotionally.”

Glick, 62, of Framingham, Mass., also was a director of MetroWest Bank, one of three Massachusetts banks whose stock allegedly was the subject of the illegal insider trading. The other two were Medford Bancorp and Warren Bancorp.