Investors Bancorp in N.J. to close four branches

Investors Bancorp in Short Hills, N.J., will close four branches in New Jersey and New York and has restructured its securities portfolio in an effort to cut costs and improve earnings.

The $25.5 billion-asset company announced late Tuesday that it will shutter branches in Edison, Newark and Pennington, N.J., and in Islandia, N.Y., to generate about $1.6 million in annual savings.

Investors did not provide a timeline for the planned closures and said employees will be reassigned to other vacant positions. Investors will record an additional $2.8 million in expenses in the fourth quarter to cover costs associated with the closures.

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This would be the second round of branch closings for Investors in less than a year. In late 2017, the company said it was closing six branches and eliminating roughly 100 jobs. Those moves were expected to reduce costs by $10 million to $12 million a year.

Also on Tuesday, Investors said it has sold $665 million of mortgage-backed debt securities and used the proceeds to purchase debt securities with an average yield 160 basis points higher than the sold ones. The new securities are expected to boost annual earnings by 3 cents a share.

Investors did not disclose when it sold the mortgage-backed securities or when it acquired the higher-yielding securities. It said the restructuring will result in an estimated one-time, after-tax loss of about $25 million, or 9 cents a share. Investors will recognize the loss in the fourth-quarter.

The moves could be a precursor to a potential sale. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Investors had hired the investment bank Keefe, Bruyette & Woods to explore the possibility of finding a buyer.

An active acquirer itself in recent years, Investors had been under an enforcement order related to Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money-laundering compliance that had prevented it from pursuing deals. Federal and state regulators terminated the enforcement action last week.

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