Fed Frees Four Holding Companies from Enforcement Orders

Four bank holding companies have been freed from regulatory enforcement actions, the Federal Reserve Board announced Tuesday.

The $675 million-asset Continental Bank Holdings in Plymouth Meeting, Pa., was freed from a cease-and-desist order on May 3, the Fed said. The action, issued in June 2011 by the now-defunct Office of Thrift Supervision, prohibited the company and its bank unit from issuing new commercial mortgages and required it to maintain certain capital levels.

On Monday, Continental announced it was selling itself to the $2.1 billion-asset Bryn Mawr Bank (BMTC), also of Pennsylvania, for $109 million.

Cease-and-desist orders issued in October 2009 for Nebraska-based Lincoln Federal Bancorp, M.H.C. and Lincoln Federal Bancorp were terminated on May 2.

HMN Financial based in Rochester, Minn., was released on May 1 from a supervisory agreement that required it submit regular business plans and reports to the Federal Reserve Board. The agreement also required HMN, which operates eight offices throughout Minnesota, to seek approval from the Fed to pay cash dividends or incur debt.

"We are pleased that the improvements in our financial results and capital position have allowed this regulatory agreement to be terminated," said Brad Krehbiel, President of HMN, said in a statement.

First National Bancshares of Central Alabama, based in Tuscaloosa, was freed on May 2 from a written agreement issued in June 2013.