At about the time WashingtonFirst Bank was founded two years ago, The Deal ran a feature about the explosion in community banking. In turn, the feature concluded that these de novo banks — especially those in the Mid-Atlantic region — would eventually begin to acquire each other creating new regional institutions which would become acquisition candidates for the larger national banks.
And so the circle of life begins in the District as WashingtonFirst launches what The Washington Post calls an aggressive expansion starting with the purchase of troubled rival First Liberty Bank, an 18-year-old community bank that was caught in a scandal that reads like an Internet scam involving Africans seeking help to secure seized millions. Two years ago, federal bank regulators slapped the bank and several officers with an enforcement action for loaning $28 million to the Central Bank of the Gambia only so the Gambian institution could deposit the money back, according to The Washington Post.
No terms were disclosed, but the acquisition will double both WashingtonFirst's branches and deposits. —Matthew Wurtzel
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