The Bancorp freed from Fed order tied to capital management

The Bancorp in Wilmington, Del., received some positive news heading into the new year.

The $4.9 billion-asset company disclosed in a regulatory filing Wednesday that a May 2015 supervisory letter from the Federal Reserve had been terminated.

The letter had required the company to obtain Fed approval before paying dividends on common stock, issuing debt or making quarterly payments on its trust-preferred securities

While the company is now allowed to pay dividends, funding for such payments might be limited by a June 2014 consent order against its bank. That order requires approval from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. before the bank can make payments to the holding company.

The Bancorp has disclosed a number of challenges in recent months.

The company in October warned of a possible earnings hit after an $11.2 million automated clearing house transaction was returned. The company said at the time that it should be able to offset some of the disputed amount with $5.5 million of funds on deposit.

A month later, The Bancorp said it was facing an $8.6 million civil money penalty from the FDIC tied to alleged violations of the Bank Secrecy Act. The company said the proposed penalty would also address the amount of time the bank had taken to comply with the 2014 consent order.