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Across New Jersey, it seems there are Commerce Bank branches on every block, but now the 450-branch chain could find a place on the auction block following Tuesday's departure of founder Vernon W. Hill II, who oversaw the bank's expansion from a South Jersey institution into a mid-Atlantic chain stretching from New York to Washington with an outpost in Palm Beach County, Fla. Commerce's board of directors, which Hill hand-picked, voted him out as CEO and chairman because of an ongoing federal investigation.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the bank’s primary regulator, says it is continuing to look into possible insider dealing at Commerce, and two people close to the investigation say 61-year-old Hill is at the center of the examination, according to a New York Times story. Some of those insider deals involve Hill funneling contracts to businesses owned or associated with board members. The investigation has already crimped the fast-growing bank's plans to open 65 new branches. Hill built the bank around the notion of convenience by keeping branches open seven days a week and long after rivals were closed. Should the board opt to sell as analysts and the press have speculated, one possible buyer with a similar customer service focus would be Washington Mutual. Another bank that could be on the prowl would be Royal Bank of Scotland plc's U.S. unit Citizens Financial Group Inc., whose branch network has a gaping hole in the region between southern Connecticut and Philadelphia. —Matthew Wurtzel See story from The New York Times Tags: finance, financial services, acquisition, deals, mergers, m&a Categories Deal Video
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