Republic National Bank of New York
Republic National Bank of New York[10] operated without the "Of New York" part of its full name,[11] even though the name "Republic National Bank of" had at times been used elsewhere.[12][13][14]
From 1980 until Safra's death, Walter Weiner was Safra's attorney and CEO of Republic National Bank of New York and, in 1983, Wiener became chairman of the bank.[9]
In 1981, Republic National Bank of New York sought a tax abatement to construct its Fifth Avenue headquarters. The bank was the first midtown project to be turned down since the city's brush with bankruptcy in the mid-1970s. Kenneth Schuman, chairman of the city's Industrial and Commercial Incentive Board, said that the market had become strong enough so that construction would take place without the tax abatement.[15]
In 1998, Safra's Republic National Bank of New York was the preferred foreign bank through which most Russian banks had correspondent accounts. Both Russian banks, including SBS-Agro, Menatep , Inkom , and United Bank , and the Russian Ministry of Finance transferred IMF loan money to foreign locations through Safra's Republic National Bank of New York.[16][17]
On 17 August 1998, the Republic National Bank of New York lost 45% of its net income due to its large holding of Russian bonds that became worthless after the 1998 Russian financial crisis.[9]
In 1999, Safra sold Safra Republic Holdings and Republic New York Corporation to HSBC for $10.3 billion in cash.[18][19] The price was reduced to $9.85 billion, after the bank was convicted in a scheme to defraud Japanese investors, and fined over $600 million, in connection with the disgraced market forecaster Martin A. Armstrong.[5]
On 31 December 1999, HSBC Private Bank became the new name for Safra's former holdings.[20]
When Republic was taken over by HSBC Bank USA, which already had acquired the former Marine Midland Bank, the combination retained what Republic had previously achieved:[21] "the third-biggest retail branch network in the New York region."[22] Two competitive parts of their operation were "low-cost checking and free automated teller machine services."[23]
