CFX: Opens 29th Office



Contact:  Keith D. Armstrong, Director of Branch Sales 
          and Services - 625-1112




                       CFX BANK OPENS 29TH
                       OFFICE IN MERRIMACK
                                

     Merrimack, NH, March 31, 1997 -- CFX Corporation (AMEX: CFX)
announced today that its leading subsidiary bank, CFX Bank,
recently opened its 29th full-service banking office at Connell's
Shopping Plaza, 456 Daniel Webster Highway, in Merrimack, New
Hampshire.

     In making the announcement, Keith D. Armstrong, Banking
Partner and Director of Branch Sales and Service at CFX Bank,
stated, "We look forward to serving consumers and businesses in
the Merrimack area with a full range of consumer and commercial
banking products and services. As New Hampshire's largest,
locally-managed financial institution, we offer the personal,
friendly service of a community bank and the diversified and
sophisticated product lines of larger organizations." The opening
of the Merrimack Office coincides with the 100th anniversary of
CFX Bank.

     CFX Bank is a banking subsidiary of CFX Corporation, a multi-
bank-holding company headquartered in Keene, New Hampshire with
total assets of $1.6 billion as of December 31, 1996. The Company
also owns Orange Savings Bank, headquartered in Orange,
Massachusetts, and The Safety Fund National Bank, headquartered
in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. CFX Mortgage, Inc., CFX Bank's
mortgage banking subsidiary services approximately $765 million
in mortgage loans for others. The Company operates 43 full-
service offices, 2 loan production offices, and 68 automated
teller and remote service banking locations in New Hampshire and
central Massachusetts, and operates a trust division with assets
of approximately $370 million.

     Upon completion of the recently announced acquisitions of
Community Bankshares, Inc. and Portsmouth Bank Shares, Inc., CFX
will have $2.7 billion in assets, 57 full-service banking
offices, 2 loan production offices, and 88 automated teller and
remote service locations in New Hampshire and central
Massachusetts.



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