Penn Community Bank to sell its insurance division

Perkasie-based Penn Community Bank has agreed to sell its insurance division, Penn Community Insurance, to Franconia Insurance & Financial Services, an agency in Telford.

The sale, planned to go into effect in the first quarter, would mean all Penn Community Insurance customers would become customers of FIFS LLC.

“We’ve been familiar with their business for many years,” said Chad Yoder, partner at FIFS. “We are only a half-mile from the Bucks County line so our territories significantly overlap.”

Many FIFS employees have close ties to the area, he added.

While there’s no firm date for finalizing the sale, Yoder said both parties signed the agreement and it would be final sometime in the first quarter.

FIFS has 17 full-time employees and plans to add more to its workforce once the sale is complete, he said.

“It gives us the capacity to not only write the standard insurance policies but niches,” Yoder said. These included aviation, motorsports and policies for business owners.

As a full-service agency, FIFS also offers life and health benefits insurance.

Penn Community Insurance has been a good partner throughout the process, he added.

He declined to disclose the financial terms of the agreement.

“We have had this insurance subsidiary for quite some time and we are looking for an opportunity to continue this,” said Jeane Vidoni, president and CEO of Penn Community Bank. “Our intent really when we thought to do this was to find a buyer that was committed to our culture. They’re focused solely on the insurance business.”

In the search for a buyer, Penn Community said it sought a local agency that shared its values.

Penn Community Bank has nine employees in its insurance division, said Charles Field, CFO of Penn Community Bank. Franconia Insurance will be having conversations with those employees to determine who is coming over, Field said.

“The insurance was definitely an important part of our business but it was a small one,” Vidoni said.

Penn Community Bank has more than $2 billion in assets, employs more than 350 people and offers services at 24 bank branches and two administrative centers throughout Bucks and Montgomery counties.

“As part of our strategic planning we made the decision that going out to find a partner was in the best interest of our customers,” Field said.