Republic First Addresses Norcross-Braca Group’s Unwillingness to Participate in the Company’s Full and Fair Strategic Review

Republic First Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: FRBK) (the “Company” or “Republic First”), the holding company for Republic First Bank d/b/a Republic Bank, today addressed recent communications from George E. Norcross, III, Gregory B. Braca, Philip A. Norcross and Avery Conner Capital Trust and its trustees (collectively with their respective affiliates, the “Norcross-Braca Group,” or the “Group”).

The Company issued the following statement:

“The Norcross-Braca Group claims to care about all of Republic First’s constituencies, yet its actions indicate a fundamental disregard for fellow shareholders and stakeholders. The Group is running a disruptive, misleading and self-serving campaign that appears to be all about positioning George Norcross to make a control-like investment in Republic First on his preferred terms and rushed timeline. As evidence, the Group refuses to halt public attacks and sign a standard non-disclosure agreement to participate in a full and fair strategic review process that it initially welcomed. This posture – which is consistent with Mr. Norcross’s actions in other situations – is the case despite the Company sharing preliminary feedback and trying to facilitate a dialogue.

The Group continues to rely on disingenuous claims and litigation to try to force us to abandon our process in favor of accepting its investment proposal that requires nearly $10 million in expense reimbursements and provides it the right to appoint or approve nearly half of the Company’s Board. In contrast, other parties have signed customary non-disclosure agreements and are working through our process in a normal fashion. We suspect the Group would agree to participate in our process – rather than disrupt it from the outside – if it actually believed its proposal was competitive and viable.

The reality is it is already the beginning of a new day at Republic First. We have a rebuilt leadership team and refreshed Board that has additive skills, relevant experience and meaningful shareholdings. We are making initial progress in optimizing our expense base, leveraging new technology and engaging with prospective capital and strategic partners – all of which we believe will support future profitability and long-term value for all our shareholders, employees and customers. We look forward to sharing updates on our progress in the coming weeks and months.”