First Citizens Bank, the third-largest bank in the Wilmington market, will expand its footprint significantly in the Carolinas through a merger with a South Carolina bank, according to an announcement Tuesday.
 
Columbia, South Carolina-based First Citizens Bancorporation and its banking subsidiary, First Citizens Bank and Trust Company Inc., will merge into Raleigh-based First Citizens BancShares Inc., the parent of First Citizens Bank, a news release from both financial institutions stated.   
 
The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2014, subject to the receipt of regulatory approvals and the approval of shareholders from both companies, according to the release. 
 
“I’m pleased to announce the merger of these two strong service-oriented companies. Our similar cultures, values and business philosophies make this transaction a natural fit,” Frank Holding Jr., chairman and CEO of First Citizens BancShares and First Citizens Bank, said in the release. “We see great opportunity in combining to create one bank with enormous potential for future success for our stockholders, customers, associates and communities.” 
 
Holder is expected to lead the combined entity, which will be called First Citizens Bank, the release stated, adding that Jim Apple, chairman and CEO of First Citizens Bancorporation and First Citizens Bank and Trust Company Inc., plans to retire this fall when the transaction is completed.
 
“We see so many positives to joining with a bank that has a similar culture and brings 116 years of experience in financial services. This agreement makes compelling strategic sense. The combined First Citizens Bank, with its robust product and service offerings and customer focus, will carry on a tradition of financial strength and growth,” Apple said in the release.
 
Currently, First Citizens Bank, a family-controlled institution with assets of more than $21 billion, operates more than 400 branches in 17 states and the District of Columbia, according to its website. It has 14 branches and about $713 million in deposits in the greater Wilmington market, according to the latest local figures from the FDIC.
 
Although First Citizens’ territory in the Southeast U.S. includes Virginia, Georgia and Tennessee – as well as North Carolina – it does not operate in South Carolina. The merger with First Citizens Bank and Trust will change that.
 
First Citizens Bank and Trust operates 176 locations in South Carolina and Georgia and currently reports total assets of $8.5 billion, according to its website. In recent years it has grown organically as well as through acquisitions.
 
The new combined bank would have total assets of $30.7 billion, deposits of $26.1 billion, loans of $18.0 billion and more than 575 branches in 18 states and the District of Columbia, based on financial results as of March 31, according to the release.
 
“The merger will create the largest family-controlled bank in the U.S. and the sixth-largest bank headquartered in the Southeast by asset size,” the release stated.