Bank of Las Vegas, 1st Commerce Bank report losses for 2012

Bank of Las Vegas moved closer to profitability last year, as the community bank reported a loss of $3.72 million, a dramatic decline from the $51.7 million loss in 2010, financial reports filed with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. show.

The community bank reported assets of $260.2 million in 2012, down from $450 million. The decrease in assets was attributed to the parent company’s decision to shrink the size of the bank over the past two years.

The bank reported a loss of $8.03 million for 2011.

“Our bank was not profitable for 2012,” Pete Atkinson, president and CEO , said Tuesday. “The bank is still dealing with the cost of maintaining problem loans.”

Atkinson said that not only have the appraisals on problem assets bottomed out, but that they also “have begun to slightly increase in value.”

Bank of Las Vegas and 1st Commerce Bank in North Las Vegas are owned by Capital Bancorp Ltd. in Lansing, Mich. Capital Bancorp lost $25.4 million, or 62 cents a share, last year, down from
$45.4 million, or $1.17 a share, in 2011.

The bank holding company owns 12 banks in nine states. Capital Bancorp is recapitalizing its subsidiaries through a bankruptcy plan announced in August that calls for the company to raise at least $70 million.

“It does look positive for this year,” Atkinson said. “I don’t know about Washington, but here things are looking up.”

For 2012, 1st Commerce Bank, which operates one North Las Vegas branch and has $23.5 million in assets, reported a net loss of $594,000. Atkinson said it was “too small to be profitable.”

“It’s not doing a lot, (except) servicing what it has,” he said. “It was the fifth bank we chartered here. Our long-term plan is to merge it with Bank of Las Vegas.”

Atkinson said Capital Bancorp has inquired whether regulators would approve the merger but held off moving forward. He said now was the time to reconsider seeking approval to merge .

It wouldn’t be the first time Capital Bancorp has merged local banks. In January 2010, the recession forced Capital Bancorp to merge Desert Community Bank, Red Rock Community Bank and Black Mountain Community Bank into Bank of Las Vegas.

Capital Bancorp opened 1st Commerce Bank in October 2006. Atkinson said the bank was affected by the recession and banking crisis, never allowing it to expand.

Contact reporter Chris Sieroty at csieroty@reviewjournal.
com or 702-477-3893. Follow @sierotyfeatures on Twitter.