Peoples of Ohio Delays Filing

Peoples Community Bancorp in West Chester, Ohio, blamed the local economy and its nonperforming assets for its inability to meet the April 1 deadline for filing its annual report.

The $721 million-asset company said in a securities filing Wednesday that it anticipates posting a loss significantly larger than its $33 million loss for 2007, because of a rising loan-loss provision.

Peoples Community Bank's noncurrent loan ratio rose 164 basis points last year, to 5.54% of total loans at yearend. The unit lost $46.6 million last year.

The delay's announcement was the first news from the troubled company since early January, when it said CenterBank in Milford had called off a deal to buy its deposits, its branches and most of its assets. At the time, Peoples said it had until the end of January to find another buyer, or its agreement with a private-equity firm would expire. There is no evidence it has found another partner.

The deal with CenterBank was the second to fail for Peoples in the last year and a half. In the third quarter it warned that its ability to continue as a going concern would be in jeopardy if the deal with CenterBank fell through.

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