Richmond County Financial Corp. in Staten Island, N.Y., plans to expand its 15-branch network by seven.
The $3.2 billion-asset company announced late Tuesday that it has agreed to buy two branches on Staten Island from FleetBoston Financial Corp. and five in Atlantic County, N.J., from Summit Bancorp.
Summit, of Princeton, N.J., is merging with Fleet in a $7 billion stock deal slated to close on or about March 1. The seven branches have deposits of $200 million and are being sold to meet a government mandate stemming from the merger deal.
The branch deal with Richmond County Financial is expected to close in the second quarter. Richmond County said it plans to retain all employees now at the seven branches.
