Fed Hits Florida Bank with Reg Order

Once an aspiring acquirer, Florida Bank Group Inc. in Tampa is now under a Federal Reserve enforcement action.

On Tuesday the Fed published a written agreement with the $840 million-asset company and its Florida Bank unit. The March 1 agreement required Florida Bank Group to serve as a source of strength to its bank.

It also gives the company 60 days to submit plans to strengthen board oversight and credit risk management practices, and bars it from paying dividends or receiving them from the bank.

In July 2010, Florida Bank Group agreed to buy Anderen Financial Inc. in Palm Harbor, Fla., but they called off the deal in January, claiming regulators were hesitant to approve expansion plans.

The Fed announced three other orders Tuesday.

The others were with the $199 million-asset Farmers and Merchants Bancshares Inc. in Burlington, Iowa, on Feb. 28; Rosholt Bancorp. Inc. in Wisconsin on March 1; and Stark Bank Group Ltd. and its First American Bank unit in Fort Dodge, Iowa, on March 3. Those agreements also called for the companies to serve as sources of strength and restricted dividend receipts and payments. The Stark Bank agreement also called for a capital plan.

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