Hancock Holding Co. in Gulfport, Miss., said Monday that Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. notified it last week that it had failed to comply with a rule dealing with director independence.
Nasdaq notified Hancock that there had been an "interlocking relationship" on its audit and compensation committees from August 2009 to August 2010.
The Nasdaq said in a letter to the company that the issue involved Anthony Topazi, a Hancock director and former president and chief executive of Mississippi Power Co, and Carl Chaney, Hancock's CEO.
Topazi served on Hancock's compensation committee at the same time that Chaney was a director at Mississippi Power. The issue ended last August, when Topazi left Mississippi Power for another job.
Hancock, which is acquiring Whitney Holding Corp. of New Orleans, said in its filing Monday that the "notification has no effect on the listing of the company's common stock."
