FDIC Lifts Orders Against Two Banks

First Bancshares (FBSI) in Mountain Grove, Mo., said Friday that regulators had ended a November 2011 agreement that obligated its First Home Savings Bank to maintain a Tier 1 leverage ratio of at least 7% and to charge off all loans classified by examiners as lost. The $186.8 million-asset bank had a Tier 1 leverage ratio of 8.1% as of Dec. 31, according to the FDIC.

The agreement also obligated the company to keep its allowance for loan and lease losses at a reasonable level and to provide written financial plans for three years. The bank has "implemented revised policies and procedures so we can continue to follow these guidelines going forward," Brad Weaver, First Home Saving's chief executive, said in a press release

Separately, CIB Marine Bancshares (CIBH) in Waukesha, Wis., said Friday that the FDIC had lifted an April 2010 order that obligated its CIBM Bank to maintain a Tier 1 leverage ratio of at least 10% and a total risk-based capital ratio of at least 12%. At Dec. 31, the $471 million-asset bank had a Tier 1 leverage ratio of 12.2% and a total risk-based capital ratio of 16.6%, according to the FDIC.

The agreement had required the CIB Marine to provide written plans for strengthening management, to charge off all loans classified by examiners as lost, and to refrain from lending to any borrower that loan examiners had flagged as substandard or doubtful.

The pact also obligated CIBM Bank to specify in writing plans to reduce its risk position in troubled loans greater than $300,000, to reduce concentrations of credit, to refrain from paying dividends without permission from regulators, to review the sufficiency of its loan-loss allowance, and to map out financial plans for the coming two years.

"The removal of the order is an important milestone for CIBM Bank, which reflects our improved performance over the last several quarters and our team's dedication to improving its capital position, asset quality and profitability," Charles Ponicki, CIBM's chief executive, said in a press release.

CIB Marine said that it had agreed to revised regulatory requirements with regulators last month, that still requires its bank to maintain a Tier 1 capital leverage ratio of 8% and a total risk-based capital ratio of 12%. Certain restrictions on dividends also remain in place, the company said.

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