Fulton Financial’s Republic First Acquisition Brings Back Worries of Big Bank Failures
Republic Bank has 32 branches, and the takeover involves ‘substantially all of the assets’
Fulton Financial Corp's (FULT) acquisition of troubled lender Republic First Bancorp (FRBK) follows this year's first US bank failure. Although Republic First is a relatively small bank, its distress gained importance because of a series of failures of several large banks in the latter half of last year.
Fulton's subsidiary Fulton Bank acquired "substantially all of the assets” and “substantially all of the deposits” of Philadelphia-based Republic First. The floundering bank runs 32 bank branches in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York under the name, Republic Bank.
Fulton bought Republic First through an auction run by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. after Pennsylvania state authorities seized the troubled lender, a report in the Wall Street Journal said.
The FDIC stated on Friday that after the state regulators appointed it as Republic First’s receiver it “entered into an agreement” with Fulton Bank “to protect depositors.” The FDIC described Republic First as “the first U.S. bank failure this year.”
