In the latest development in what has been a tumultuous several months for Republic First, regulators have seized the bank and sold it to fellow regional lender Fulton Financial, write Gina Heeb, Lauren Thomas, and Justin Baer for The Wall Street Journal. 

The bank was closed by the Pennsylvania state regulator and sold after an auction run by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, marking the fourth high-profile bank failure since last spring.

The other three banks were Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and First Republic, respectively. 

Republic First faced many of the same challenges the other three failed regional banks faced, including paper losses on bonds that lost value as interest rates rose, and high proportions of uninsured deposits that can quickly flee.

Already with about $28 billion in assets and around 200 locations, Fulton Bank’s deal with Republic First should allow it to scale up without the increased regulatory scrutiny that comes with banks that have more than $50 billion in assets.

Fulton said the deal would nearly double its size within the Philadelphia market. 

Republic First, which operated branches in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York under the name Republic Bank, had around $6 billion in total assets at the end of 2023. 

Read more about what led to Republic Bank being seized and what the future holds at The Wall Street Journal.

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