Sarasota bank eradicates problematic legacy loans

SARASOTA — Sabal Palm Bank has achieved a major milestone: There are no more non-performing assets on its books.

The Sarasota-based community lender, with $107 million in assets, reported the achievement in an Oct. 31 letter to shareholders that was also a third-quarter earnings update. “The success we have enjoyed in resolving our loan issues coupled with our steady growth has resulted in the bank generating core profitability every month during 2014,” Sabal Palm President and CEO Neil McCurry says in the letter.

McCurry says one of the bank's primary goals has been to resolve legacy loan problems that date back to the recession. More recently, the bank had 4.29% in non-performing assets through June 30, 2013. All of those loans, through sales of property and other transactions, have now been successfully resolved, the bank says.

“While we are certainly pleased with our efforts to resolve the loan problems from the past,” McCurry writes, “we have also continued to invest in the bank's future.”

Deposits, says McCurry, have increased by more than $9 million since the beginning of the year. The bank has also grown its performing loans portfolio by $9 million, to a total of $78 million. Sabal Palm, finally, appointed area banker Richard Appell to run its Venice operation.