The struggling Mercantile Bancorp Inc. has replaced its top brass.
On Tuesday, the $904 million-asset company named Lee R. Keith, a director since 2009, as its interim president and chief executive. Keith succeeds Ted T. Awerkamp, who had served in those positions since 2007.
The Quincy, Ill., company said in a press release that Keith's experience in six troubled bank turnarounds make him a good fit for the company.
Mercantile has spent the last few years trying to get its arms around problems at two of its banks: Royal Palm Bank of Florida in Naples and Heartland Bank in Leawood, Kan. Both banks were undercapitalized at June 30.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. gave Royal Palm Bank until the end of this month to raise capital or find a buyer in a June 28 prompt corrective action directive.
