Troubled Philadelphia-based regional bank Republic First Bancorp was seized by Pennsylvania regulators Friday, marking the first regional banking failure this year following a series of high-profile collapses in 2023. Republic First had roughly $6 billion in assets and another $4 billion in deposits in January, according to the FDIC.
Fulton Bank reached an agreement with regulators to take over Republic First’s 32 branches in Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey, which will reopen under the Fulton Bank name, with the Pennsylvania-based bank assuming “substantially all of [Republic First’s] deposits and purchase substantially all of the assets,” the FDIC said in a statement.
Shares of Republic First Bancorp plummeted Friday as investors moved away from the faltering bank, sinking 60% on the day to just over 1 cent—a drop in the bucket of its July 2006 peak at nearly $12.50.
Republic First’s seizure makes it the fourth in just over a year to be seized by state and federal regulators, following the abrupt failure of Silicon Valley Bank last March, sparking fears about the stability of regional banks amid a series of bank runs depleting multiple banks’ assets.
The FDIC guarantees up to $250,000 in individual customer deposits, meaning that customers can expect up to a quarter million dollars to be safe even if their bank collapses.
