In Pennsylvania, by buying National Penn Bancshares of Allentown. The Philadelphia Inquirer explains why the deal is going down as it is:
Why sell now? National Penn (chartered in 1874) is almost large enough to pass the $10 billion legal threshold, making its loans and other assets subject to additional federal banking compliance rules and limits on customer fees, the bank’s CEO, Scott Fainor, said in an interview. “Those things are expensive,” he added. “We found the right partner in BB&T.”
National Penn’s recent weak performance forced it to cut a deal, said Jason O’Donnell, chief investment officer at Bluestone Financial Institutions Fund in Bryn Mawr, which invests in financial companies.
So a business decision motivated in large part by regulation. That’s something that’s never a win for the economy.
