Flagstar Bancorp Acquires 52 Retails Branches Belonging To Wells Fargo

Flagstar Bancorp today announced that it will soon purchase 52 Wells Fargo & Co branches. That will be in about four states not forgetting the 14 branches in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Plans underway

A person well conversant with the matter has disclosed that these branches will be part of the ones Wells Fargo will be doing away with, as part of its plan to exit the retail banking business in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana.

The Michigan branches include locations in Ishpeming, Houghton, Munising, Menominee, Escanaba and Marquette. The sale to Flagstar is going to include about four branches in northern Wisconsin. At the close of the sale, there will be about 48 Wells Fargo branches left in Wisconsin.

President and chief executive officer of Flagstar Bancorp, Alessandro P. DiNello, asserted that the acquisition of the Wells Fargo branches would most probably be completed towards the end of October and the regulatory approval can’t be wished away.

Recent developments

The move to acquire the Wells Fargo branches will see Flagstar double its customer base and as a result develop opportunities for the provision of loans and other banking products to almost 200,000 additional customers.

Several market observers have praised Flagstar for its efforts to build the retail banking network outside of Michigan. As the year was opening, this bank channeled its resources and efforts as well towards expanding its footprint in California through the acquisition of about eight Desert Community Bank branches in San Bernardino County.

Flagstar has been looking forward to that moment where it will succeed at transforming its balance sheet and is optimistic that the deal will see through its dream. Just like it is the case with a couple of banks around, Flagstar is making efforts it deems helpful in making it less dependent on borrowing from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis. An official working with the bank has stated that the transaction could be bringing about the sort of liquidity that they need to repay short-term Federal Home Loan Bank advances.

DiNello is quite pleased that they have been able to increase their presence in the Midwest market, which is an area they understand quite well and which they find rather attractive at the same time. It is the first time that Flagstar will be establishing a branch in Upper Peninsula according to DiNello.