- Key takeaway: Forbright Bank's senior executives said the company's digital banking strategy has evolved to the point where its legacy branch network was expendable.
- Supporting data: In two years since launching a digital deposit gathering platform, Forbright has attracted more than 100,000 customers and $4.3 billion of deposits.
- Expert quote: "This transaction is about becoming more focused, more efficient, and better positioned for long-term growth." –CEO Don Cole.
Two Washington, D.C.-area community banks have arrived at fundamentally different viewpoints regarding the value of physical branches.
For the $1.1 billion-asset Trustar Bankshares in Great Falls, Virginia, branches are an integral part of its traditional community-banking model. But for the Chevy Chase, Maryland-based Forbright, which launched an online strategy in 2022, they have become a distraction.
That divergence serves as background for the deal the two companies announced Friday. The $8.5 billion-asset Forbright agreed to sell its legacy physical footprint, two branches in Montgomery County, Maryland, as well as a customer service center across the Potomac River in Tysons, Virginia, to Trustar for a $19 million deposit premium.
Forbright, holding company for Forbright Bank, is parting with $750 million in local deposits under the deal. It believes it can afford to do so because the growth of its national business lines combined with increasingly productive digital deposit-gathering efforts have rendered the branch network expendable, according to CEO and Executive Chairman John Delaney.
"Our national businesses have reached the scale and momentum that allow us to focus our capital, technology, and management attention where our competitive advantages are strongest," Delaney said in a press release.
"Our job is to position Forbright to be in front of these trends, not to spread ourselves across non-core businesses," President and Chief Operating Officer Don Cole added.
Forbright declined to make any additional comments.
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The branch sale is expected to close in the fourth quarter. Its announcement comes a little more than two months after Forbright raised $142.2 million in an initial public offering.
For the $1.1 billion-asset Trustar, whose Trustar Bank subsidiary operates under a traditional community bank model and already has one branch in Bethesda, the deal expands its reach in affluent Montgomery County, Maryland, where the median household income tops $140,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Tysons, where Forbright's customer service center is located, is only slightly less affluent. The median household income there approaches $130,000.
"This is a unique, strategically-aligned opportunity to strengthen Trustar Bank's presence in our core markets, and add valuable deposits and relationships, positioning Trustar for growth," CEO Shaza Andersen said in a press release. "This transaction will efficiently add scale to our franchise and create long-term value for our shareholders."
Andersen had not responded to a request for comment at deadline.
Founded as Congressional Bank in 2003, Forbright followed a conventional community bank model broadly similar to Trustar's. While Congressional was profitable throughout the first two decades of its history, it opted for a
Forbright unveiled a digital deposit platform in 2024. Through June 30, it reported more than 106,000 digital customers with balances totaling $4.3 billion. Forbright currently offers high-yield savings and certificates of deposit digitally. It plans to rollout a checking account product in the first quarter of 2027.
"Our digital deposit platform is outperforming what I would describe as our very high expectations for it," Delaney said July 30, discussing Forbright's second-quarter earnings on a conference call with analysts.
Depositors around the country "are seeking better rates and a much better digital experience," Delaney said on the conference call.
Trustar reported deposits of $970 million on June 30, up 13% from the same date in 2025. The company expects the branch buy to add to 2027 earnings, but did not provide a specific estimate.
"We are focused on ensuring a seamless transition while building on the valued relationships Forbright Bank has established," Andersen said.
