Bank of America closed its Penn Square branch last Friday, ending eight years of operation there.
Bank of America had acquired the Griest Building branch through its 2004 purchase of FleetBoston Financial.
Griest Building owner Rob Ecklin said two other banks have expressed interest in opening in the 4,100-square-foot location.
“I’m hopeful of getting another bank in there, but I just don’t know. It’s too early to tell,” Ecklin said.
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This venerable Delaware bank started by the du Pont family has fallen on hard times. After sustaining some large losses over the last several quarters, the bank started looking for a buyer. M&T Bank has acquired Wilmington Trust and will inherit a strong presence in Delaware.
Wilmington Trust is a casualty of the recession – low investment earnings and the housing market grinding to a halt have affected the bank’s ability to make enough revenue.
At present, no member of the du Pont family sits on the bank’s board, although some family members are depositors. One of Wilmington Trust’s specialties is wealth management. They have a number of clients with a $10,000,000+ in liquid assets for a total of $58.4 billion.
Sadly, this is another more or less “local” bank that’s being gobbled up by a super-regional player. M&T Bank has bought up smaller banks and expanded their presence. Delaware will expand M&T’s market to ten states, primarily along the East Cost. M&T Bank, based in Buffalo,NY, has reported profits for 34 years in a row.
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Pittsburgh-based PNC Bank is gobbling up all of Royal Bank of Canada’s U.S.branches – 424 locations in all. The acquisition will make PNC the fifth largest U.S. bank with 2,870 branches.
RBC USA locations are in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
The acquisition is expected to close in March of 2012.
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Normally, when we think of boom towns, Scranton is not generally at the top of the list. For decades Scranton has struggled with declining population and employment, as the area dealt with the death of “King Coal” and huge manufacturing losses.
Yet despite a major nationwide economic downturn, Scranton is in the middle of a building boom. Another unusual factor is that this boom is primarily in center city. Most cities are not seeing growth in their downtown areas. Usually growth is occurring in the suburbs.
There are four major projects being built in Scranton that total more than $260 million dollars! That’s not a small chunk of change for a city of 72,000 residents. Heck, that’s not a small chunk of change for a larger city!
The projects include:
Construction of the Commonwealth Medical College – $120 million dollars
Several building projects at the University of Scranton – $116 million dollars
Connell Building renovation – $23 million dollars
Tobyhanna Army Deport Federal Credit Union headquarters construction – $4 million dollars
This is encouraging news for NEPA! 1,400+ workers in the building trades are finding employment during this frenzy of activity in Scranton. These employers will add permanent jobs that will continue to benefit Scranton for years to come.
Fulton Bank has asserted its dominance in the Lancaster County financial services market and expanded its lead over number two rival Susquehanna Bank.
Fulton Bank has 23.09% of all Lancaster County deposits, up from 21.3% last year. Fulton increased its lead over rival Susquehanna Bank from 3.37% to 5.14% over last year. Both banks are based in Lancaster County. Susquehanna Bank is based in Lititz and Fulton Bank has its headquarters in Lancaster City on historic Penn Square.
Fulton Bank has a branch in Pottstown located at 799 State Street in the Pottstown Plaza shopping center. Susquehanna Bank maintains a very visible presence downtown Pottstown occupying a 5-story building at the corner of High and Hanover Streets.
Fulton Bank has been named one of the best places to work in Pennsylvania for 2010 in the large company category. http://www.fultonbank.com/viewpage.asp?n=3
Fulton Bank has just announced plans to expand their corporate headquarters in Lancaster City and add 225 more employees. The building project will be between $15-$20 million dollars. To see the details click here: http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/300590
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Pottstown newcomer First Niagara Bank is expanding again. No sooner did the ink dry on the Harleysville sale that brought First Niagara here…they went bought another bank!
New Alliance Bank of Connecticut was purchased in a $1.5 billion dollar transaction. The deal will close the second quarter of 2011. This will give First Niagara Bank 340 offices, $29 billion in assets, $18 billion in deposits and about 5000 employees.
In comparison, the Harleysville sale price was $300 million.
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