Republic First Bancorp in Philadelphia is seeking a New Jersey charter so it can open branches in the state.
The $850 million-asset company filed a charter application with the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance this month. If the charter is granted, Republic First intends to merge the New Jersey charter into the current one for its Republic First Bank, which operates nine branches in Philadelphia and its Pennsylvania suburbs.
Marshall McKnight, a spokesman for the Department of Banking and Insurance, said obtaining a charter is one of the three ways in which an out-of-state banking company can gain authorization to do business in New Jersey. The other two are buying a bank or a branch based in the state.
Republic First was also the holding company for First Bank of Delaware until it was spun off to investors in January of last year. The $73 million-asset Wilmington bank had a long association with payday lenders but exited the business last month under pressure from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
