PA bank’s failure Friday could cost FDIC fund $667 million, agency says

The failure Friday of a $6 billion-in-assets bank in Pennsylvania – the first U.S. bank failure of 2024 – could cost the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s (FDIC) Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) an estimated $667 million, the agency said.

The FDIC late Friday said the Philadelphia-based bank, Republic First Bank (doing business as Republic Bank), was closed by the Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities, which appointed the FDIC as receiver. The FDIC entered into an agreement with Fulton Bank, National Association of Lancaster, Pa., to assume substantially all deposits and purchase substantially all of the assets of Republic Bank, it said.

The FDIC said that as of this Jan. 31, Republic Bank had approximately $6 billion in total assets and $4 billion in total deposits. While the agency estimated that the cost to the DIF related to the failure of Republic Bank will be $667 million, it said it determined that compared to other alternatives, Fulton Bank’s acquisition of Republic Bank is the least costly resolution for the DIF.

The FDIC said Republic Bank is the first U.S. bank failure this year; the last failure was Citizens Bank, Sac City, Iowa, in November.

Fulton Bank, N.A. of Lancaster, Pennsylvania Assumes Substantially All Deposits of Republic First Bank, Philadelphia