Has Settlement Become a ‘Priority?’
by October 15, 2012 12:00 am 63 views
We here at Whispers have had Dec. 10 circled on our calendars for about a month now, but have begun to wonder if that date will prove to be just another Monday.
Dec. 10, in case you’ve forgotten, is the date that was set to settle the quarrel between Priority Bank of Ozark and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The hearing currently is scheduled to be held at the Sebastian County Circuit Court in Fort Smith.
The hearing stems from a cease-and-desist order that was issued May 9. It included the downgrading of Priority’s CAMELS examination ratings, which are used to determine a lender’s overall condition.
However, Trevor Lavy, owner, chairman and CEO of Priority, declined to accept the cease-and-desist order. That move set up the looming court date.
In the meantime, it seems Priority successfully appealed some of the findings in the May 9 notice. Specifically, the OCC’s Office of the Ombudsman ruled in favor of modifying, for the better, Priority’s CAMELS ratings.
That much, in case you missed it, was reported in the Oct. 8 issue of Arkansas Business. A little more digging revealed that at least one source expects a settlement between Priority and the OCC to be reached prior to the court date.
For the record, Priority has ranked among the state’s most profitable in terms of return on equity, and recorded a $946,000 profit through June 30.
Stay tuned.