In Brief

N.J.'s Commerce Leaves Nasdaq for NYSE

CHERRY HILL, N.J. - Commerce Bancorp has switched its stock registration to the New York Stock Exchange after 12 years on the Nasdaq.

The stock began trading Sept. 26 under the ticker symbol CBH.

The move by $2.6 billion-asset Commerce came as it begins a push into brokerage and insurance sales and prepares to open four branches.

Bank officials, who had been considering the switch for several months, said it would help the 55-branch bank be more visible to investors, boost the volume and ease of trading, and increase the stock's liquidity. N.Y. Thrift Calls Off $27M Bulk Loan Sale

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - Poughkeepsie Savings Bank returned $26.7 million of loans to its portfolio after officials concluded that a bulk sale was unlikely to succeed.

Four loans for about $6.9 million are nonperforming, but the remaining 11, for $19.8 million, are good loans.

The loans were already being carried at the thrift's best estimate of current fair market value, so no additional loss is expected. Officials will continue to try to collect on the loans through normal servicing or workout procedures.

The thrift this year has pursued a strategy of ridding itself of unwanted assets through bulk sales. In April it sold $33.1 million of assets, including $14.4 million of bad loans. It reached a tentative agreement in July to sell another $12.1 million but could not agree on terms with the buyer, and the sale is not expected to close. Pa.'s Fulton to Buy a 2d Bank in New Jersey

LANCASTER, Pa. - Fulton Financial Corp. has agreed to buy Woodstown National Bank and Trust Co. for about $57.6 million.

The $270 million-asset target bank, based in Woodstown, N.J., would be the 10th subsidiary of $3.7 billion-asset Fulton. It will retain its name and autonomy.

Woodstown is the leading bank in Salem County, with four offices and an 18.8% deposit market share. The bank also has two branches in nearby Gloucester County, with a third planned for early 1997.

The acquisition, which is subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals, would be Fulton's second in New Jersey and fourth outside Pennsylvania. The deal is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 1997.

Fulton bought Bank of Gloucester County, with seven branches, in February, and it also has operations in Maryland and Delaware.

Under the Woodstown agreement, each share of the New Jersey bank will be exchanged for 1.6 Fulton share. At Fulton's share price of about $20, that's 2.3 times Woodstown's estimated book value at Sept. 30.

Fulton Financial also terminated a stock repurchase program announced in June.

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