Feb 20 – First Chatham Bank Reports $8.6 Million Loss as of Dec 31 Call Report

Last Updated on Monday, 20 February 2012 01:13 Written by Lou Phelps Monday, 20 February 2012 01:12

SBJ Staff Report

Feb 20, 2012 - First Chatham Bank has reported that its operating losses have increased. The bank reported a net loss attributable to bank operations of ($ 8.6) million for the 4^th Qtr. ended Dec. 31, 2011. The figures are part of the bank’s ‘Call Report’ filing with the FDIC last week.

Because of the loss, the bank’s equity capital declined from $24.7 million at 12/31/2010 to $17.1 million at 12/31/2011.

The bank wrote off $ 11,880,000 million in loans during 2011. Of the figure, $1.6 million was written off for residential, owner-occupied home loans; $5 million was for land development loans; $2 million was for commercial and industrial loans and $1.1 million for multiple family residential loans.

Despite this, the bank ended the year with assets of $521 million.

First Chatham has been operating under a Letter of Agreement with the FDIC, issued in July 2010 that required the bank to change some of its practices, but focused on increasing its capitalization versus its loan portfolio to sustain required loan to assets ratios.

First Chatham appears to be in violation of that agreement, and has not been able to improve its ratios of debt versus assets to required FDIC standards.