Stifel to Buy Acacia Federal Savings in Virginia

Stifel Financial Corp (SF) in St. Louis has agreed to buy Acacia Federal Savings Bank in Falls Church, Va.

The companies announced last week an agreement to merge Acacia into Stifel Bank and Trust, the investment bank and brokerage's $3.9 billion-asset bank. The terms were not disclosed.

"The transaction is consistent with Stifel Bank's long-term strategy to principally serve our global wealth management business in a low risk, profitable manner," said Ronald Kruszewski, chairman, president, and chief executive of Stifel, in the news release. "The transaction will add more than $450 million of performing loans to Stifel Bank's portfolio holdings."

Acacia, a division of insurance company Ameritas Mutual Holding, had $745 million in assets and one branch as of May 1, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Customers Bancorp (CUBI) in Pennsylvania agreed to pay $65 million for Acacia last June, but canceled the merger in April following delays in obtaining regulatory approval.

With the sale, Ameritas would join MetLife, Hartford Financial, Prudential and other nonbank financial firms that have sold off their banking units in recent years, as the Dodd-Frank Act and other regulation has increased banks' compliance burdens.

Stifel Bank and Trust has one branch. It is the successor of FirstService Bank, which Stifel Financial bought in 2006.