Feds fine former bank leaders

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, August 8, 2006

Federal regulators have handed out new fines and prohibitions to six former leaders of the now defunct First National Bank of Shelby County.

The enforcement actions taken by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

involve only First National Bank and not the Mississippi-based First M&F Corp, which purchased the bank nearly six months ago.

In May of 2005 the bank was charged with violations, with &8220;unsafe or unsound banking practices&8221; and with breaking a formal agreement with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).

The OCC, in recent months, passed down eight enforcement actions against four former bank directors and two former vice presidents, according to public records.

Former directors Martha B. Ferguson, Robert A. Hayes and Joe L. Tidmore each received fines of $7,500 for &8220;participating in unsafe or unsound banking practices&8221; relating to their &8220;failure to adequately oversee the affairs&8221; of the bank. A fourth director, A. Duncan McFarlane, was fined $10,000 in connection to the same violations.

Judy R. Davis, a former vice president and real estate administrator, and Russell J. Rasco, former vice president and senior loan officer, each received fines of $5,000 and were prohibited from any future affiliation with a bank.

The two were cited in consent orders for &8220;violations of law, unsafe or unsound banking practices, and breaches of fiduciary duty.&8221;

First National Bank of Shelby County and its parent company, Columbiana Bankshares Inc., were purchased by M&F for about $31 million