Bank of Commerce needs $8.5 million

We hear there's plenty of money chasing bank deals on the Gulf Coast, but bringing investors to the table and persuading regulators to approve those deals is another matter.

Raising capital is especially challenging for smaller Gulf Coast-based banks that are struggling to manage loans collateralized by real estate hit hard in the region's calamitous downturn. Many banks have been forced to make big loan-loss provisions, using precious capital to do so.

Meanwhile, skittish regulators are handing out orders to force big and small banks to raise capital more quickly than they probably can. Two recent local recipients of such “consent” orders were Bank of Naples and The Bank of Commerce in Sarasota.

In a statement, Elliot Kaplan, chairman of Naples Bancorp, Bank of Naples' holding company, says the board is considering either raising more capital or selling the bank or some of its problem assets.

“We will need $8.5 million to get to the required ratios,” says Charlie Murphy, president and CEO of The Bank of Commerce. “We've engaged [investment bank] Sandler O'Neill to raise capital.”