WSFS, Bryn Mawr merger gets final approval
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WSFS Bank, headquartered in downtown Wilmington, announced Monday that its merger with Philadelphia-area Bryn Mawr Bank Corp. has received all approvals. | DBT PHOTO BY JACOB OWENS
WILMINGTON – WSFS Bank announced Monday that its merger with Bryn Mawr Bank Corp., the parent company of Bryn Mawr Trust based northwest of Philadelphia, has received its final approvals.
With approvals from WSFS and Bryn Mawr stockholders, and regulatory approvals from the Federal Reserve and WSFS Bank’s primary regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the banks expect to close the transaction Jan. 1.
“We are pleased to have received all required approvals and are looking forward to consummating our combination shortly,” WSFS Chairman, President and CEO Rodger Levenson said in a statement. “This combination brings together both companies’ long history of service for our customers and communities to form the premier, locally headquartered bank and wealth management franchise in the greater Philadelphia and Delaware region.”
The two banks will continue to operate separately until systems and brand conversion in the late first quarter of 2022. Bryn Mawr Trust wealth management clients will continue to be served by the same professionals and the integration of the WSFS and Bryn Mawr wealth management groups will take place throughout 2022.
The $976.4 million acquisition deal will grow WSFS’ assets by about 25% and its wealth management assets by more than 40%, totaling post-merger nearly $20 billion and $43 billion, respectively, as of Dec. 31. According to an investor presentation, WSFS would become the sixth largest bank by deposit in the Philadelphia-Wilmington-Camden metropolitan area after the merger, leapfrogging its biggest Delaware competitor M&T Bank.
The merger is WSFS’ ninth since 2010, including traditional banks and other fee-based businesses in southeastern Pennsylvania and Delaware. Its most notable merger prior to Bryn Mawr was Philadelphia-based Beneficial Bank, which held $5 billion in assets across Philadelphia and southeast New Jersey when it merged with WSFS in 2019.
WSFS anticipated consolidating about 30% of the combined banking offices due to geographic overlap and optimization opportunities within the network. Among those branches reportedly to close are a Greenville location for Bryn Mawr Trust and Glasgow, Seaford and Selbyville locations of WSFS.
