New York City real estate titan Howard Milstein is selling all but two of his 32 Emigrant Bank branches, Crain’s reported. Apple Bank is buying all of the branches, and their $3.2 billion in assets, except for the one at 5 East 42nd Street, near Fifth Avenue, and another in Ossining, N.Y. Milstein will also retain ownership of two affiliated online banking platforms.
Emigrant’s net income fell 42 percent to $50 million last year. In 2007, the bank increased its business loan portfolio and subsequently suffered more than $500 million in losses during the crash in 2008 and 2009. As a result, Milstein, who has owned the bank since 1986, was forced to infuse the bank with $200 million.
Crain’s said the move would bring Emigrant just below the $10 billion asset threshold that requires banks to comply with new federal laws. As previously reported, local politicians petitioned to alter a Dodd-Frank Act provision to exempt Emigrant from having to make a $300 million payment. But the bank is still on the hook for the $267 million in bailout money it accepted three years ago. [Crain’s]