-
The FDIC issued four consent orders against banks in July, after doling out three a month earlier. The agency used to hand out 10 or more a month.
September 7 -
Porter Bancorp (PBIB) of Louisville, Ky., did not have to look far to find the new leader for its struggling bank.
July 19
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. doled out 13 consent orders to banks in October.
The latest batch, disclosed by the FDIC on Thursday, included banks in across the country, including areas hardest hit by the downturn such as California, Florida, Georgia and Illinois. It also included banks in areas that have been worn down by the protracted economic malaise.
For at least one bank, the October agreement replaced an existing order, rather than starting a new corrective program. The $1.3 billion-asset PBI Bank in Louisville, Ky., has been under a consent order with FDIC and its state regulator since June 2011 that requires it to have a leverage ratio of 9% and a total risk-based capital ratio of 12%.
Those targets remain in place, but the new order gives regulators the ability to push for a sale if the bank is unable to meet the ratios of the Oct. 2 order. Under terms of the new order, the bank, which is a unit of Porter Bancorp (PBIB) would have 30 days to develop, adopt and implement to sell itself or raise capital if it is unable to maintain the capital ratios required under the original order.
Several banks have received similar warnings in consent orders. The FDIC does not comment on open institutions.
A call to Porter Bancorp was not immediately returned, but the company disclosed the new order in its third-quarter filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The bank was not in compliance with the capital ratios at Sept. 30, but the company said that it is continuing to look for ways to shrink its loan portfolio. It has also received approval from its shareholders to increase the number of shares outstanding to 86 million, from 19 million. Porter also hired an investment bank to help evaluate a capital raise and explore ways to redeem the money it received from the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program in 2008.
The latest batch of banks facing corrective action find themselves in good company. SNL Financial reported Friday that 12.6% of banks and thrifts had formal enforcement actions as of Nov. 26. That compares to 13.87% a year earlier.
