FDIC Lifts Enforcement Action Against United Community Unit

A unit of United Community Financial (UCFC) in Youngstown, Ohio, has been freed from an enforcement action with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Ohio Division of Financial Institutions.

The $1.8 billion-asset company said Tuesday that regulators terminated a March 2012 consent order against Home Savings and Loan that required the thrift to maintain adequate capital levels and submit periodic reports. At Dec. 31, Home Savings had a Tier 1 leverage ratio of 8.7%; its total risk-based capital ratio was 16.2%.

Last month, the company announced plans to raise roughly $47 million in capital. It also sold $115 million in loans in September in a bulk sale.

The bulk loan sale "substantially improved asset quality and achieved a dramatic reduction in our risk profile," Patrick Bevack, United Community's president and chief executive, said in a press release. The terminated consent order "means that Home Savings is now considered well capitalized and no longer in troubled condition, and we can once again take deposits from public institutions."

The terminated enforcement action had replaced a cease-and-desist order issued by regulators in September 2008. A 2008 enforcement action between United Community and the Federal Reserve Board still exists, a company spokesman said.