None of the branch banks are in the Tampa Bay area, but the region is likely to see branch closings in the future.
By JEFF HARRINGTON
Published October 13, 2004
After establishing a foothold in the Tampa Bay area, R-G Crown Bank is quickly expanding its Florida franchise by buying 18 branches from SouthTrust Corp.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed Tuesday.
SouthTrust is divesting the branches to avoid overlap as it merges into Wachovia Corp., a $14-billion acquisition that is expected to close by year's end.
The branches being sold, which have about $600-million in deposits, include nine branches in Jacksonville, five in Lakeland, one in DeLand and three in Augusta, Ga.
R-G Crown was formerly Crown Bank, a small Orlando institution. It was bought in 2002 by R&G Financial Corp., a financial holding company in San Juan, Puerto Rico. R&G is the parent of R&G Mortgage Corp., Puerto Rico's second-largest mortgage banker.
Fueled by money from its new parent company, R-G Crown has grown to $1.5-billion in assets, with branches in Holiday, Bayonet Point, Clearwater, Dunedin and St. Petersburg.
Wachovia, based in Charlotte, N.C., has a network of 609 Florida branches, including 113 in the Tampa Bay area. SouthTrust, based in Birmingham, Ala., has 252 Florida branches, 56 of them in the bay area. With SouthTrust, Wachovia will control about 19 percent of the state's bank deposits, just shy of rival Bank of America's 20 percent.
In addition to the divested branches, SouthTrust and Wachovia plan to close 175 to 200 branches nationwide, with Florida and Georgia bearing the brunt.
No locations have been announced, but analysts expect some closings in the Tampa Bay area given the strong presence here of both banks.
