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The troubled Greenville, S.C., bank lost $15 million in the second quarter, its first quarterly results since a new management team replaced the three founders who were fired in April. Moreover, local NAACP leaders have raised concerns about the firings, which they say sent a toxic message to the local African-American community.
July 31 -
Nearly six months after some CertusBank investors demanded a total management overhaul, the Greenville, S.C., company elected six new board members at an annual meeting last week. Yet investors remain very concerned about the company's ongoing losses and capital levels, new Chairman John Poelker says.
August 14 -
The "dream team" of bankers who set up Greenville, S.C.-based CertusBank attracted half a billion dollars from hedge funds to buy failed banks. Lately, the focus has shifted to big losses, lavish spending and payments to a consulting firm owned by top executives.
March 27 -
The Greenville, S.C., company hired John Poelker as interim CEO and ousted its top executives less than two weeks after allegations of financial mismanagement surfaced. Poelker, known for stabilizing struggling banks, could be tasked with cleaning Certus up for a buyer.
April 10 -
Three of Certus' ousted executives depict a behind-the-scenes struggle at the Greenville, S.C., bank as management, directors and investors were often working at cross purposes. The lawsuit also discusses a possible merger with an unnamed bank that never took place.
April 24
CertusBank in Greenville, S.C., has agreed to sell its mortgage and wealth businesses as it tries to move past its history of high expenses and heavy losses.
The $1.5 billion-asset company said Monday that it will sell its home loan business to AmeriSave Mortgage, and its brokerage and investment-advisory businesses to Eximius Holdings, in separate transactions. Terms of the agreements were not disclosed.
The sale will give AmeriSave, an Atlanta online mortgage lender, a traditional mortgage-origination channel. AmeriSave and Eximius, an investment group based in Queens, N.Y., will take on most of the employees and infrastructure in the businesses they're acquiring, Certus said in a press release.
"We are undoing structural and operational components of the company that are no longer consistent with our strategic transition toward a more traditional community banking business model," Certus Chief Executive John Poelker said in the release.
Poelker, who was named CEO after Certus fired its founders in April, said he wants to refocus on traditional community banking. Certus was founded in 2011 to buy failed banks, but disappointed its backers after recording pretax losses of more than $100 million in 2012 and 2013.
The company
It's unclear what effect the sales will have on Certus' bottom line. Certus earned $1.2 million in mortgage-servicing fees in the first six months of 2014, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Its wealth-management income was unspecified, but it recorded $246,000 in combined investment banking, advising, brokerage and underwriting income.
In addition to its losses, Certus faces uncertainty due to the firing of its three founders, Milton Jones, Walter Davis and Angela Webb, who were terminated weeks after an American Banker article focusing on the bank's
Shortly after being terminated, Jones, Davis and Webb
