Citizens Republic Bancorp was a bank holding company for Citizens Bank, headquartered in Flint, Michigan. It merged with FirstMerit Bank in June 2013. It operated 219 branches and 248 ATMs in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ohio.[4][5] FirstMerit merged with Huntington Bancshares in 2016.
 | |
| Formerly | Citizens National Bank Citizens Commercial & Savings Bank |
|---|---|
| Company type | Public |
| Nasdaq: CRBC | |
| Industry | |
| Predecessor | Citizens Banking Corporation Republic Bancorp, Inc. |
| Founded | 1871 |
| Defunct | April 12, 2013[1] |
| Fate | Merged with FirstMerit Corporation |
| Successor | FirstMerit Corporation |
| Headquarters | , USA |
Number of locations | 220 (2012)[2] |
Area served | |
Key people | David T. Dort (board director 1966-2005)[3] Cathy Nash (CEO 2009-2013)[2] |
| Products | |
| Services | Financial services |
 $347 million (2012) | |
| Total assets | $9.586 billion (2012) |
| Total equity | $1.370 billion (2012) |
Number of employees | 1,977 (2012)[2] |
| Parent | FirstMerit Corporation (2012-2013) |
| Subsidiaries | F&M Bancorporation (1999-2005) |
| Footnotes / references [4] | |
History
editCitizens National Bank
editCitizens National Bank was established in 1871[4] at the height of Flint's great lumber industry.[2] Citizens National Bank played a key role in the development of the auto industry in the United States. General Motors founder William C. Durant acknowledged that a loan he and partner J. Dallas Dort received from Citizens in 1886 enabled him to start his vehicle manufacturing company now known as General Motors.[3]
Citizens Commercial & Savings Bank
editCitizens National Bank switched from a national to a state-chartered institution in 1890 as Citizens Commercial & Savings Bank. In 1928, the original bank building was demolished and the a new headquarters building, Citizens Bank Building, was built on the site. In 1937, the Bank began its annual Citizens' Holiday Sing.[3]
The Weather Ball on the bank headquarters was first illuminated August 30, 1956. The ball is a regular beacon in the city except from 1974 until January 1, 1978, when it was turned off during the 1970s energy crisis.[3]
Citizens Banking Corporation
editCitizens Commercial & Savings Bank formed a holding company, Citizens Banking Corporation, in 1981 to acquire additional banks. Banks acquired were Grayling State Bank and State Bank of Standish in 1984.[6]
In 1985, Citizens Banking acquired Second National Corporation, owner of Second National Bank of Saginaw and Second National Bank of Bay City, for $68.3 million.[7]
In November 1986, Citizens Banking announced the acquisition of National Bank of Illinois / Commercial National Bank of Berwyn, Illinois as its first non-Michigan acquisition.[8][9]
David T. Dort, son of J. Dallas Dort, retired April 10, 1988, as the longest-serving director of Citizen Banking Corp. after 22 years.[3]
On April 8, 1991, Citizens Banking designated $15 million in loans for small businesses in county's poor and minority communities over three years. The bank purchased Bishop International Airport expansion bonds January 15, 1992, saving the airport $2 million on a $34 million project. On February 18, 1992, Citizens pledged $15,000 toward construction of the Robert M. Perry School of Banking building at Central Michigan University.
Citizens acquired Royal Bank Group on October 1, 1993.[10]
It acquired four Michigan locations of Banc One on February 28, 1995.[11]
Citizens acquired CB Financial on July 1, 1997.[12]
In the last quarter of 1999, Citizens purchased 17 branches from Bank One.[3]
In 1999, Citizens acquired F&M Bancorporation, with banks in Wisconsin and Iowa, for $820 million.[13][14]
TCF Financial Corporation sold three locations to Citizens Banking on May 12, 2000.[3] On April 25, 2005, F&M Bank-Wisconsin changed its name to Citizens Bank as Citizens Banking Corporation had applied to consolidate the two banks.[13]
Citizens Republic Bancorp
editOn December 29, 2006, the bank acquired Republic Bancorp of Ann Arbor, Michigan to become, at the time, the 45th largest U.S. bank-holding company. After this acquisition, it was renamed to Citizens Republic Bancorp.[3] To gain Federal Reserve Bank approval for the merger with Republic Bank, Republic sold seven local branches to First Place Financial under its Franklin Bank subsidiary.[15][16][17]
In December 2008, the bank received $300 million in funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program after it suffered losses from the downturn of the U.S. automotive industry during the 2007-2008 financial crisis.[3][18]
In 2010, the bank sold its F&M Bank Iowa locations for $50 million cash to Great Western Bank.[19][20]
In 2011, the bank agreed to a settlement in a Redlining case as Republic Bank's successor by the US Department of Justice triggered by a Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System complaint which will require them to open a loan office in a Detroit black neighborhood and $3.6 million for loans and grants in Wayne County.[21][22]
In 2010, the bank reported losses of $286 million, its largest annual loss in three years of consecutive losses. It reported a net income of $17 million for 2011.[23]
In 2011, the United States Department of the Treasury appointed two directors to the bank's board after it had failed to repay $300 million in bailout funds.[24] For the first time since the economic downturn, the Bank reports in July 2012 five consecutive quarters of profit.[3]
FirstMerit merger
editIn August 2012, Citizens Republic had not repaid its $300 million bailout loan from the US Treasury. The bank holding company considered issuing stock to pay the debt back, but instead put itself up for sale with J.P. Morgan Chase hired to find a buyer.[24] On September 13, 2012, Akron, Ohio-based FirstMerit Corporation announced it would acquire Citizens in a stock-for-stock merger transaction valued at approximately $912 million.[25] With the stock payment worth less than the stock's tangible book value, several law firms started looking into a possible case of breached fiduciary duties by Citizens Republic's Board of Directors.[26][27] On April 12, 2013, First Merit Corporation closed on its acquisition of the company.[28] FirstMerit repaid the $300 million in TARP funds, including $45 million of interest, on behalf of Citizens.[29]
Citizens Banking Building
edit
The Citizens Banking Building is currently the Flint headquarters for Huntington Bank. The building is more a complex of three structures, the North, South, and West building, which are interconnected. The ground and second floors connect the North and South buildings, while the South and West buildings are connected via the second and third floors over Buckham Alley.[30]
In 1928, the South building was built with a lower level vault with a door weighing 43 tons which was then the largest vault door in the state. In the 1950s, a 4 four-story annex was added on its south side. West was built next in 1958 with four stories with 2 more added in 1965. The North Building was the final building build in 1974 as a 10-story building.[30]
On June 13, 2013, the building was given a new FirstMerit Bank sign along with revealing the new design of the Weatherball.[5] In October 2015, the University of Michigan–Flint announced a purchase agreement for $6 million the North tower of the building to be completed by March 31.[30] The week of April 25 2018, the "FM" letters were removed for the current owners of the bank building, Huntington Bank, which purchase First Merit.[31]
Weatherball on bank headquarters
editThe symbol of the bank was the weatherball atop its headquarters in downtown Flint. Currently it is lettered for Huntington Bancshares. The Weather Ball on the bank headquarters was first illuminated August 30, 1956. A poem explaining the weather meaning behind the ball's colors. In 1964, a Citizens Bank jingle was crafted by Jackie Bowles from the poem, with small alternation to the words, and set to Cumberland Mountain Bear Chase music.[31] The ball is a regular beacon in the city except from 1974 until January 1, 1978, when it was turned off during the 1970s energy crisis.[3] The weatherball was re-lettered for FirstMerit Bank in November 2013.[5] The original "CB" letters were removed and were supposedly going to be put in the Sloan Museum in Flint, Michigan. Unfortunately, because of their poor condition due to their age, they had to be recycled. The "CB" initials underneath were made of neon piping for the letters with a metal, reflective backing behind the neon letters, and the letters were mounted on square porcelain plates.
The Weather Ball was operated by Citizens Republic Bancorp based on National Weather Service forecasts, and is still operated the same way. The Weather Ball’s construction materials include 800 square feet of Plexiglas and 667 feet of lighting tubing. It is designed to withstand winds of up to 120 mph.[citation needed]
- Weight: 2.5 tons
- Height: 15 feet
- Diameter: 15 feet
- Circumference: 47 feet.
References
edit
- ^ "Corporate Entity Details: CITIZENS REPUBLIC BANCORP". Business Entity Search. State of Michigan Department of Licensing & Regulatory Affairs.
- ^ a b c d e Allen, Jeremy (September 13, 2012). "Sale of Flint-based Citizens Republic Bancorp ends 142-year run for largest Michigan-based bank". MLive Media Group.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Averill, Andrew (September 13, 2012). "Citizens Republic Bancorp part of lumber, automotive, Flint history since 1871". MLive Media Group.
- ^ a b c "Citizens Republic Bancorp 2012 Form 10-K Annual Report". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. February 28, 2013.
- ^ a b c Allen, Jeremy (June 12, 2013). "First look at new Flint Weather Ball". MLive Media Group.
- ^ "Citizens Banking Agrees to Acquire Michigan Bank Firm". The Wall Street Journal. August 9, 1985. ProQuest 397929758.
- ^ "Citizens Banking". The New York Times. Reuters. August 8, 1985.
- ^ "BANK FIRM BUYS UNIT IN BERWYN". Chicago Tribune. November 6, 1986.
- ^ "Citizens Bank shareholders approve Flint bank's sale to Akron, Ohio-based FirstMerit Corp". MLive Media Group. April 6, 2013.
- ^ "CITIZENS BANKING CORPORATION TO ACQUIRE". March 19, 1993.
- ^ McNatt, Robert (September 10, 1994). "Flint-based Citizens to purchase 4 banks". Detroit Free Press. p. 12 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "CITIZENS BANKING TO MERGE WITH CB FINANCIAL". The New York Times. Bloomberg News. January 29, 1997.
- ^ a b "F&M Bank to become Citizens Bank April 25". American City Business Journals. February 10, 2005.
- ^ "COMPANY NEWS; CITIZENS BANKING TO ACQUIRE F & M FOR $820 MILLION". The New York Times. Reuters. April 20, 1999.
- ^ Bach, Matt (May 1, 2007). "New Franklins in the county". MLive Media Group.
- ^ "Citizens to buy Republic Bancorp in $1B deal". American City Business Journals. June 26, 2006.
- ^ "Michigan Banks Merge as Citizens Buys Republic Bancorp". The New York Times. June 27, 2006.
- ^ Ellis, David (August 6, 2009). "Banks line up for second round of TARP". CNN.
- ^ Burden, Melissa (February 1, 2010). "Citizens Republic Bancorp Inc. plans to sell Iowa subsidiary for $50 million cash". MLive Media Group.
- ^ "Citizens Republic to sell F&M Bank-Iowa". American City Business Journals. February 1, 2010.
- ^ Turner, Kris (May 5, 2011). "Citizens Bank, Department of Justice reach settlement over redline allegations". MLive Media Group.
- ^ Dolan, Matthew (May 5, 2011). "Citizens Republic Settles Detroit-Bias Claims". The Wall Street Journal.
- ^ Gores, Paul (September 13, 2012). "Citizens Republic Bancorp to be acquired by Ohio firm". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
- ^ a b Mider, Zachary R.; Keller, Laura J. (August 3, 2012). "Citizens Republic Said to Seek Buyers". Bloomberg News.
- ^ Allen, Jeremy (September 13, 2012). "Flint-based Citizen Republic Bancorp Inc. sold to Akron, Ohio-based FirstMerit Corp". MLive Media Group.
- ^ Byron, Shaun (September 19, 2012). "Multiple law firms launch investigations against Citizens Republic Bancorp following sale to FirstMerit Corp". MLive Media Group.
- ^ Allen, Jeremy (April 12, 2013). "Getting to know FirstMerit Corporation: A history of the Citizens Bank buyer". MLive Media Group.
- ^ Allen, Jeremy (April 12, 2013). "FirstMerit, Citizens Bank deal closes; branches open April 13 under 'Citizens Bank, now part of FirstMerit Bank' name". MLive Media Group.
- ^ Murray, Teresa Dixon (September 13, 2012). "FirstMerit buys Citizens Republic, expands in Greater Cleveland and jumps to No. 6 in Midwest". The Plain Dealer.
- ^ a b c Schuch, Sarah (October 16, 2015). "What to know about UM-Flint buying portion of historic Flint bank building". MLive Media Group.
- ^ a b Acosta, Roberto (April 25, 2018). "Weather ball update bringing change to Flint skyline". MLive Media Group.