CommerceBank Merger Talks With Republic Terminated

CommerceBancorp, one of Orange County’s larger bank holding companies, said Thursday it has ended talks about a possible merger with a Torrance bank.

The parent company of CommerceBank had started talks in January with Republic Bank and its holding company, American Republic Bancorp, on a merger that would have made the Newport Beach bank Orange County’s largest bank with $500 million in assets.

But after an exchange of basic financial and other information during the past two months, the companies decided to end negotiations, officials for both companies said. The talks had not progressed far enough for extensive due diligence--close review of each other’s records--to begin.

No reason was given for the collapse of talks, and executives at the companies could not be reached for comment. Industry experts had doubted that a merger would occur, mainly because Republic Bank has had some financial problems.