Republic First Bank became the first American bank to shut down its business in 2024. The bank, also known as Republic Bank, was closed down by the Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities, which named the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as the receiver.
The US regulators seized the lender and said that it would be sold to Fulton Bank, reported Reuters. The FDIC said on Friday that Fulton Bank will takeover all the deposits and acquire all assets of the Philadelphia-based Republic Bank to ‘protect depositors’.
Republic Bank has about $6 billion in assets and total deposits worth $4 billion, as of January 31, 2024. The FDIC noted that the expected cost of the failure to its fund would be $667 million. Further, the bank also has borrowings and liabilities worth nearly $1.3 billion, Fulton Bank said in a statement.
Curt Myers, Chairman and CEO, Fulton Bank, noted, “With this transaction, we are excited to double our presence across the region.” After the deal, the combined bank deposits will be around $8.6 billion.
Notably, all 32 branches of Republic Bank in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York will be rebranded as Fulton Bank’s branches on Saturday or Monday during business hours. The last bank collapse in the US was of Silicon Valley and Signature in March 2023, followed by First Republic in May.
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Earlier in 2023, Republic Bank slashed its workforce and exited the mortgage origination business in an attempt to control surging expenses and improve profitability. The bank also finalised a deal with an investor group including veteran businessman George Norcross and attorney Philip Norcross in the latter half of 2023, however, the pact fell through in February.
The bank was delisted from Nasdaq in August and its shares are now traded over the counter.
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