Check-Kiting Scheme Sent Roma to 2Q Loss

Roma Financial (ROMA) in Robbinsville, N.J., swung to a loss in the second quarter thanks to a check-kiting scheme.

Meanwhile, it still awaits Federal Reserve Board approval of its sale to Investors Bancorp (ISBC).

The $1.7 billion-asset Roma reported a quarterly loss of $355,000, compared with a $1 million profit a year earlier, it announced Friday. The company lost $1.1 million in a check-kiting scheme conducted by one of its customers, it disclosed in a regulatory filing in May. Roma has notified the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is seeking to recover the money, it said.

"This loss overshadowed improving loan quality which significantly lowered provisions for loan losses in both the quarter and six-month period compared to the same time frames in 2012," Peter Inverso, Roma's president and chief executive, said in a news release.

Roma's pending acquisition by $13 billion-asset Investors Bancorp in Short Hills, N.J., has been approved by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance, but the Fed has not yet OK'd it, Roma said Friday. The deal was announced in December and was expected to close in the second quarter. Roma's shareholders voted in favor of the deal in May.