Beneficial Mutual Bancorp, Inc. operated Beneficial Bank, a full-service bank whose assets totaled approximately $5 billion upon its acquisition by WSFS in 2019. Founded in 1853, Beneficial was the oldest and largest bank headquartered in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, with more than 58 locations throughout

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

and

South Jersey South Jersey comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of New Jersey located between the lower Delaware River and the Atlantic Ocean. The designation of South Jersey with a distinct toponym is a colloquialism rather than an administrative ...

. The bank provided financial services including personal and business banking, mortgages and loans, wealth management, business and insurance services.

History

Beneficial Bank's foundation was built on Saint

John Neumann John Nepomucene Neumann (german: link=no, Johann Nepomuk Neumann, cs, Jan Nepomucký Neumann; March 28, 1811 – January 5, 1860) was a Catholic priest from Bohemia. He immigrated to the United States in 1836, where he was ordained, joined t ...

's vision of providing a safe, secure place for Philadelphia's immigrants to deposit their savings. Members of the Board of Managers of St. Joseph's Hospital met in 1853 to discuss starting a saving fund society. That same year, the Beneficial Saving Fund Society was incorporated. In 1854, Beneficial Bank began operations. The bank celebrated its 160th anniversary in 2013. In 2005, Beneficial completed its acquisition of the insurance firm Paul Hertel & Co., through a subsidiary of the bank, Beneficial Insurances, LLC. Beneficial had made other major acquisitions in recent years, including the FMS Financial Corporation (the parent company of Farmers & Mechanics Bank) and St. Edmond's Federal Savings Bank. Its last acquisition was the 2015 purchase of Conestoga Bank of Chester Springs, Pennsylvania. Beneficial completed its conversion to a publicly traded company in early 2015, and was advised by

Sandler O'Neill and Partners Sandler O'Neill + Partners, L.P., (Sandler O'Neill) was a full-service investment banking firm and broker-dealer specializing in the financial services sector. It was headquartered in New York City, and had offices in Boston, Chicago, San Francis ...

. In 2014, Beneficial moved its headquarters to 1818 Market Street in Philadelphia, at which point the building was renamed 1818 Beneficial Bank Place. WSFS and Beneficial announced that WSFS would acquire Beneficial, with the deal expected to close in early 2019. The deal ultimately closed March 1, 2019. Beneficial offices as well as some WSFS offices were consolidated and/or rebranded under the WSFS name on August 26.

References

External links

TheBeneficial.com
Former official website^{Archived 2 March 2019} {{Authority control Banks based in Philadelphia American companies established in 1853 Banks established in 1853 Banks disestablished in 2019 Defunct banks of the United States 2019 disestablishments in Pennsylvania