Republic First Seized, Sold to Fulton Bank
Republic First Bancorp was seized by US regulators on Friday, and facilitated its sale to Fulton Bank, a subsidiary of Fulton Financial Corp., bringing an end to the Philadelphia-based bank’s struggle to maintain adequate capital.
The acquisition was led by the Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
As of January 31, Republic First had around $6 billion in total assets and $4 billion in total deposits, with the FDIC estimating the cost of its collapse at $667 million, which will be covered by the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF).
All 32 branches previously maintained by Republic First across New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York will reopen as branches of Fulton Bank.
The close and sale come after Republic First reported in July that it was undertaking a new strategy to reduce expenses, adding that the value of its mortgage loan portfolio had “declined substantially in a rising rate environment”.
The closure is the latest in a string of regional bank failures since the bankruptcies of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in 2023, highlighting the issues that smaller regional banks face.
Fulton stated that the transaction resulted in the acquisition of assets worth around $6 billion, including a $2 billion investment portfolio and approximately $2.9 billion in loans. It also assumes approximately $5.3 billion in liabilities, which include approximately $4 billion in deposits and other borrowings and liabilities totaling approximately $1.3 billion.
“With this transaction, we are excited to double our presence across the region,” Fulton CEO Curt Myers said. “We look forward to welcoming Republic Bank’s team members and customers to Fulton and providing our comprehensive set of consumer, commercial and wealth advisory products and services to even more customers.”
The announcement comes just days after reports surfaced that the FDIC was in talks with potential purchasers for Republic First, whose market value had fallen to less than $1 million for much of the month after peaking at more than $500 million in 2017.
The FDIC attempted to find purchasers for the bank last year, when the Norcross-Braca group was set to invest $35 million in the bank, but the agreement was called off in February.