Oxford Bank Enters into Formal Agreement with Regulatory Agencies
June 30 2008 - 4:37PM
PR Newswire (US)
OXFORD, Mich., June 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Oxford Bank, a
subsidiary of Oxford Bank Corporation (OTC:OXBC) (BULLETIN BOARD:
OXBC) , announced today that it has entered into a formal agreement
with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the State of
Michigan Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation. The
understanding went into effect on May 25, 2008. The agreement was
proposed by both regulatory agencies as a result of Oxford Bank's
most recent supervisory examination in September of 2007. During
the regulatory audit process, specific areas of concern were
addressed by the Bank's management team and the examiners. The
concerns are primarily related to losses in the Bank's residential
mortgage loan portfolio, which have been compounded by area
workforce reductions and a decline in property values; negatively
impacting it's earnings performance. While some of these matters
were already being attended to by management and the board prior to
September, Oxford Bank is committed to implementing the actions
outlined by the FDIC and OFIR to further strengthen the overall
management and credit administration function of the organization.
As a condition of the understanding, the Bank has pledged to
maintain a minimum tier-one capital adequacy ratio of eight-percent
for the term of the agreement. Historically, the Bank's ratio has
never fallen below this threshold. Currently, the Bank's ratio
exceeds the aforementioned regulatory requirement and is well above
the five-percent minimum used by examiners to define a
well-capitalized bank. Jeffrey M. Davidson, chairman, president and
chief executive officer of the Corporation and the Bank, made the
announcement and commented, "This agreement is a formal
acknowledgement by Oxford Bank and represents the board and
management's commitment to collectively work with the regulators to
aggressively address any concerns about the organization. The
Bank's board of directors and senior management team has already
implemented the majority of the recommendations presented by the
FDIC and OFIR. In addition, the Bank remains proactive in
developing additional policies, procedures and plans with the goal
of further reducing expenses and decreasing it's concentration of
substandard assets, specifically as it relates to residential home
foreclosures and the coverage of the Bank's loan loss reserve."
Davidson went on to say, "These efforts, coupled with the Bank's
ongoing strategy to decrease its overall asset size and the
continuation of its decision last year to suspend quarterly cash
dividends, will assist Oxford Bank in maintaining sufficient
liquidity and preserving the capital of the organization." Davidson
concluded, "As I stated in our May announcement of first quarter
operating results; it will take time for the Bank to reduce its
inventory of foreclosed homes, as any significant sales
opportunities are largely reliant on a revitalized local housing
market. It is important to note that our capital position remains
strong, and we have done a good job in controlling costs not
related to loan losses. Strategic changes in both deposit and loan
pricing have resulted in solid gains to our net interest spread and
net interest margin. Overall, we are making positive strides in
mitigating the effects of the local economy and look forward to
working collaboratively with our regulators to return Oxford Bank
to more traditional levels of profitability." Oxford Bank is a
subsidiary of Oxford Bank Corporation, a registered holding
company. It is the oldest commercial bank in Oakland County and
operates eight full-service offices in Clarkston, Davison, Dryden,
Goodrich, Lake Orion, Oakland Township, Ortonville and Oxford. It
also manages a consumer lending center in Oxford and a commercial
banking office in Lake Orion. The Bank has operated continuously
under local ownership and management since it first opened for
business in 1884. For more information about Oxford Bank and its
complete line of financial services, please visit
http://www.oxfordbank.com/ . Except for the historical information
contained herein, the matters discussed in the Release may be
deemed forward-looking statements that involve risk and
uncertainties. Words or phrases "will likely result", "are expected
to", "will continue", "is anticipated", "estimate", "project", or
similar expressions are intended to identify "forward-looking
statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. Factors which could cause actual results to
differ, include, but are not limited to, fluctuations in interest
rates, changes in economic conditions of the Bank's market area,
changes in policies by regulatory agencies, the acceptance of new
products, the impact of competitive products and pricing and the
other risks detailed from time to time in the Bank's and
Corporation's reports. These forward-looking statements represent
the Bank's judgment as of the date of this report. The Bank,
disclaims, however, any intent or obligation to update these
forward-looking statements. DATASOURCE: Oxford Bank CONTACT:
Anthony P. Lasher of Oxford Bank, +1-248-628-2533, +1-248-969-7230
fax Web site: http://www.oxfordbank.com/
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