Midwest Banc Holdings Inc., of Melrose Park, Ill., announced Thursday that regulators have lifted the enforcement order under which it had been operating since March of last year.
The written agreement, signed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and the Illinois Office of Banks and Real Estate (now the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation), had required the $2.5 billion-asset Midwest to improve its corporate governance, loan reviews, and risk management practices.
The agreement came out of an examination conducted in March 2003 in which Midwest was ordered to add $11.5 million to its loss reserves. That action forced Midwest to terminate its planned acquisition of the $600 million-asset CoVest Bancshares of Des Plaines.
Since hiring James J. Giancola as its president and chief executive officer in September of last year, Midwest has agreed to spin off its Midwest Bank of Western Illinois and has been restructuring its balance sheet to reduce security holdings and expand the loan portfolio.
