First Niagara Financial Group (FNFG) announced Friday it has applied to convert to a bank-holding company status.
At the same time, the thrift-holding company said it withdrew its application for approval of the Office of Thrift Supervision to green light its acquisition of Harleysville National Corporation. First Niagara said it will apply for approval of the deal with the Federal Reserve, which would be its new regulator as a bank-holding company.
“Bank holding company status will enhance First Niagara's ability to continue expanding through acquisitions of both thrifts and commercial banks and will give the company more flexibility in how it completes and executes transactions,” First Niagara said in a statement.
Despite withdrawing its application with the OTS, First Niagara said it still sees the Harleysville deal closing in the first quarter of 2010.
First Niagara, which had assets of $14.1 billion as of the end of last quarter and 171 branches, said its conversion to a bank-holding company won’t affect its employees’ day-to-day responsibilities or interaction with customers.
Shares of First Niagara were recently down 0.6%, outperforming a decline of 1.72% on the Standard & Poor’s 500. Still, the thrift’s stock has lost almost one-fifth of its market cap year-to-date.
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