First Citizens Bank has plans for more growth through a merger.

The Raleigh-based bank, which has 14 offices in the Wilmington market, announced Friday morning in a news release that it has signed a definitive merger agreement with Cordia Bancorp Inc., parent of Bank of Virginia.

Under the agreement, First Citizens Bank & Trust Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of First Citizens BancShares Inc., will acquire Cordia, based in Midlothian, Virginia. The transaction, which has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies, is expected to close no later than the fourth quarter of this year, according to the release. It is still subject to regulatory approval and the approval of Cordia Bancorp’s shareholders.

Cordia Bancorp operates six branches in the greater Richmond market through Bank of Virginia, with $348 million in consolidated assets, the release stated. First Citizens Bank has $32 billion in consolidated assets.

The agreement states that First Citizens will pay $5.15 per share of common stock to Cordia Bancorp’s shareholders.

The Bank of Virginia branches are located in Midlothian, Richmond, Chester, Chesterfield and Colonial Heights, Virginia. Upon completion of the merger, Bank of Virginia branch offices will open as First Citizens Bank branches. Until then, the release stated, Bank of Virginia customers should bank as usual at their existing branches.

Currently, First Citizens maintains a regional headquarters in Roanoke, Virginia and operates 43 branches in the state, including one in Richmond and one in Midlothian, just west of Richmond. First Citizens is sees significant potential for greater penetration of the metropolitan Richmond area, spokeswoman Barbara Thompson said Friday.

Her statement was echoed by First Citizens’ top official.

“This agreement is a significant opportunity for us to continue to grow and expand our presence in Virginia, especially the greater Richmond market,” Frank Holding Jr., chairman and CEO of First Citizens, said in the release.

First Citizens Bank is the third-largest bank in the Wilmington market, with in-market deposits of nearly $813 million and a market share of 11.8 percent, as of June 30, 2015. It has completed two mergers in the last couple of years. In January 2014, it merged with Hendersonville, North Carolina-based Mountain 1st Bank & Trust Co., with branches in 11 western North Carolina cities. A year later, First Citizens merged with a bank of the same name: South Carolina’s First Citizens Bank & Trust.

The bank has grown also through a series of acquisitions, some of them through FDIC-arranged purchases of troubled banks in other parts of the country, expanding First Citizens’ footprint to 20 states in the far West, Southwest, lower Midwest, Southeast and Mid-Atlantic.

Thompson said First Citizens is the country’s largest family-owned bank.