Riverview to close two, open two branches

Riverview Financial Corp. is closing two branches in western Pennsylvania and is opening two in the eastern half of the state, according to a regulatory filing by the company.

The company, based in Susquehanna Township, is closing branches in Altoona and in Berlin, a town near Somerset.

The parent of Riverview Bank, the company also is planning to open branches in Lower Allen Township, Cumberland County, and in Salisbury Township, Lehigh County, a suburb of Allentown. They would be the bank’s first offices in Cumberland County and in the Lehigh Valley.

“As Riverview Bank continues to grow within the markets we serve and expand across Pennsylvania to serve new markets, it is critically  important that we continue to analyze all of our existing locations from a branch optimizations standpoint. As such, we are excited about our new market opportunities in Camp Hill and Allentown, and satisfied we have identified offices that no longer fit our desired franchise cost structure, required performance levels or desired footprint,” Brett D. Fulk, president and CEO of Riverview, said in a statement.

Regulators have approved both new branches, according to the regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Lower Allen office, at 3556 Gettysburg Road, formerly housed a branch of Santander, while the Salisbury branch, at 1120 South Cedar Crest Blvd., was used by PNC, according to real estate listings and other online sources. A PNC spokesperson said the Salisbury branch closed in January 2018.

The two Riverview branches being closed, meanwhile, are expected to cease operations in the second half of 2019, pending regulatory approval, according to the SEC filing. Both are relatively small. The Altoona branch had deposits of $5.3 million as of June 30, 2018, while the Berlin branch had deposits of $8.8 million, according to data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Their deposits will be consolidated with other branches. The Berlin office’s business will be transferred to an office in Somerset, while the Altoona office will be consolidated with an office in Williamsburg.

Riverview Financial is the parent of CBT Bank and Citizens Neighborhood Bank, in addition to Riverview Bank. They operate a combined 28 branches in Pennsylvania and had assets of $1.14 billion as of March 31. The company had a net loss of $687,000 in the first quarter of 2019, down from a gain of $2.8 million in the first three months of 2018, according to a May press release.

In a statement at the time, Fulk attributed the loss to nonrecurring expenses associated with an executive separation agreement, which cost $2.2 million, and other measures related to improving the bank’s efficiency and growth.

“There is no higher priority in our company at the present time than positioning Riverview Financial Corporation to capitalize on our current scale for the purpose of enhancing shareholder value,” Fulk said at the time.