(Reuters) – U.S. regulators seize Republic first Bancorp (OTC:) and has agreed to sell it to another lender, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Friday.
The FDIC was appointed receiver and entered into an agreement with Fulton Bank, a National Association of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to assume substantially all of the deposits and purchase substantially all of the assets of Republic Bank.
The decision marks the latest bankruptcy for a regional bank following the surprise collapse of three lenders — Silicon Valley and Signature in March 2023 and First Republic in May.
The Philadelphia lender struck a deal with a group of investors that included veteran businessman George Norcross and prominent attorney Philip Norcross late last year, but the deal fell apart in February.
After that deal fell through, the FDIC renewed efforts to seize and sell the bank, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news.
As of January 31, 2024, Republic Bank had approximately $6 billion in total assets and $4 billion in total deposits. The FDIC estimates that the Deposit Insurance Fund’s losses associated with Republic Bank’s failure will be $667 million.
The regional lender has been plagued by higher costs and an inability to improve profitability, prompting it to cut jobs and exit the mortgage origination business in early 2023.
The bank’s share price fell from just over $2 at the start of the year to about 1 cent on Friday, causing the bank’s market capitalization to fall below $2 million.
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Its shares were delisted from Nasdaq in August and are now traded on the over-the-counter market.