Monday, March 5, 2012

Park Sterling earns 'satisfactory' lending grade

Charlotte-based Park Sterling Bank earned a "satisfactory" ranking in its latest Community Reinvestment Act examination, according to a report made public today by the FDIC.

The Community Reinvestment Act, passed in 1977, requires banks to show they are equitably investing and lending in communities where they take deposits. Banks are rated every few years. Possible ratings are outstanding, satisfactory, needs to improve and substantial noncompliance.

Park Sterling was deemed to have a good loan-to-deposit ratio (97 percent), and originated the majority of its loans in its basic geographic footprint.

But the bank was said to not have a good distribution of loans among different sizes of businesses. The bank was also docked for having few home purchase loans.

In Charlotte, nearly 80 percent of the bank's loans were small business loans. Of those, 60 percent were in "moderate income" geographic areas, though those areas only accounted for 13 percent of total businesses in the city, the report states.

About 18 percent of Park Sterling's loans were to businesses with revenues of less than $1 million per year. About 76 percent of Charlotte's businesses fit in that category.

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