In Brief: Low Earnings Derail Ohio Banks' Merger

The Ohio bank commissioner's office has rejected GLB Bancorp's bid to buy Maple Leaf Financial Inc.

Mentor-based GLB, the parent of Great Lakes Bank, announced late last year that it would buy $115 million-asset Maple Leaf in Newbury for $18 million of cash and about 375,000 shares of its stock.

But the state Division of Financial Institutions denied GLB's application last week on grounds that its earnings "are presently poor" in relation to its size.

The company "has not adequately demonstrated and supported that its earnings will be improved after the merger," the regulator said.

GLB, with $104 million of assets, earned just $47,000, or 7 cents per share, in the first quarter, compared with $108,000, or 17 cents a share, a year earlier. Great Lakes Bank's return on its $86 million of assets was 0.22% in the quarter, well below the 1.1% average reported by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. for banks with less than $100 million of assets.

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