James F. House soon will take the helm of United Security Bancshares Inc., a Thomasville, Ala., banking company that has hit hard times.
House will join the $632 million-asset company and its First United Security Bank subsidiary in the next few weeks as president and chief executive, the company said in a press release this week.
House, 59, has been division president of BancTrust Financial Group Inc., of Mobile, for the last three years. Prior to that, he held executive and senior management positions at the former SouthTrust Corp. of Birmingham. He also has been a consultant to banks on management, investments and commercial and consumer lending matters.
United Security's former chief, R. Terry Phillips, resigned at the end of June. Phillips stepped down after 12 years on the job and about a month after the company announced that it had to restate its 2010 bottom line as a loss.
United Security in May had to make adjustments to the values of several properties securing impaired loans, it said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. It increased its loan loss provision by 80% to $19.1 million, resulting in a net loss for 2010 of approximately $3.2 million. It had previously reported a profit of about $2 million. Additionally, the company postponed its annual shareholder meeting for several months.
Since the beginning of the year, the company's shares were down about 60%, to $4.50, at the close of trading on Wednesday.
