April 30, 2024 (EIRNS)—Republic First Bank (RFB), a small regional bank based in Philadelphia, which had $6 billion in assets, failed on April 26. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which took over Republic First Bank (dba Republic Bank), sold the bank to the Lancaster, Pennsylvania-based Fulton Bank.
Fulton Bank acquired $4 billion of Republic First Bank’s deposits and $2.9 billion in loans. As part of the transaction terms, the FDIC will provide $1 billion to Fulton Bank, which means the FDIC, effectively a branch of the U.S. government, will absorb a $1 billion part of the losses, a good share.
Fulton Bank now boasts that it is a $32.8 billion-in-assets bank. What it doesn’t say is that now, 43% of its loans—or $14.1 billion—are loans to the $23 trillion U.S. commercial real estate market, which is falling month-by-month.
