Suffolk Bancorp Sells Wealth Management Business

Suffolk Bancorp in Riverhead, N.Y., has sold its wealth management business to a unit of Provident Financial Services in Jersey City, N.J.

The $1.8 billion-asset Suffolk said in a press release Monday that it sold the business to Beacon Trust Co. The $8.4 billion-asset Provident bought Beacon in 2011. Suffolk did not disclose the price.

"We recently completed a strategic review of all business lines, and concluded that the marginal contribution of the wealth management business, together with its relatively small scale, did not justify the expense, management and compliance resources that this business requires," Howard Bluver, Suffolk's president and chief executive, said in the release. "By exiting the business, we are able to allocate additional resources to our core lending and deposit businesses, and to fuel our continuing western expansion."

Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz served as Suffolk's legal adviser. Beacon was advised by the law firm of McCarter & English.

Paul Davis is a reporter for American Banker 

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